Take Your Pick
by Twilight Memories
Summary: [sequel to Come Back To Me] Everyone has settled down now. Brago and Sherry are happy, and are expecting their first child. So, what things could possibly go wrong? Read to find out! [DISCONTINUED]
1. Thinking About Life

_Muahahahaha... I'm baaack:-)_

_Now, I know that there were some people who requested a sequel (again) for my last fic... well, here it is people!_

_The sequel to 'Come Back To Me'!_

_NOTE: If you have NOT read the fic that started all of this (Goodbye), then I suggest you read it. Then as soon as you finish that one, you can move on to the next story! (Come Back To Me). And then finally, you can start with this one!_

_Wow... it's a sequel to a sequel! Ha-ha..._

_Now... I do have to say one thing. I'm not exactly fond of the title I chose for this story. If anybody has any ideas, please tell me! But I'd also like it if you'd read the story after a while and then decide, that way you'll know a little more about what is going to happen and whatnot, and that would help you think of a better title name... so... yeah... a little help? -.-_

_Here's the full summary:_

**_Sequel to Come Back To Me. Everyone has settled down now, and is living a happy life. Brago and Sherry are happy, and are also expecting their first child. So, what things could possibly go wrong? Many._**

_Hope you all like it! And, sorry for the short chapter, all the other chapters will be longer after this, but I couldn't really think of anything to put in here, so it's going to be short. Okay? Okay! Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... well... let's just say I don't and end it there._

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**Chapter 1**

**Thinking about Life**

It was near the beginning of dusk, and fireflies flew through the air as the sun began to set. In the Belmond mansion, a woman stood in front of a window, gazing out across the yard.

Sherry Belmond stood in front of a window. She liked the end of the day; it was always a beautiful sight to see the sun setting. The colors of the sunset would mix together creating a gorgeous sight. It was the same with dawn, but Sherry preferred dusk because of the mixtures of hot colors with the cool ones of the night.

The woman sighed and turned back around to sit in a chair, and then began to think about the past two years…

Two years… two years to this day, Sherry had met somebody that almost killed her, and his name was Richard.

The woman shuddered at the thought of his name. She hated that man… He had almost taken her away from the world, taken her away from Brago.

Now... that was a story to tell. The blonde began to think about how it all began. Well, first of all, it was when she had first met Brago. Her friend was possessed at the time, and almost killed her with her own mamodo, Zophise. But Brago had jumped in the way of the blast and saved her life. And then after a while, Brago had to leave her all because she dropped his book and it got burned. That day, she had confessed her feelings for Brago... she remembered it as if it was yesterday...

And then four years of mourning over the dark mamodo, Sherry met Richard. The man had his own mamodo, but at the time she did not know. That mamodo's name was Noru, and the spell made her think that she loved Richard, but in fact she did not. Then the next day Brago somehow returned to her, and that was the beginning for another story. After a while she and Brago had found out what Richard's and Noru's plans were, and they defeated them with a mamodo battle. Zatch Bell even made an appearance along with his other friends.

Now, Sherry and Brago were with each other. They were happy and content, and they even had a gift of joy on the way...

The blonde placed her hand over her stomach. Her first child would be born soon… the baby would be a girl, but she hadn't thought of a name for her yet.

A smile crept upon the woman's lips as she gave a happy sigh. The baby would be hers and Brago's. She would be theirs.

Sherry had about two months left before the baby was predicted to be born. And she couldn't wait either… So many thoughts ran through her head, such as what the baby would look like, or what her voice would sound like. Would she have powers like Brago when she grew older? So many questions… But she'd find out in time.

The woman then sat up and headed for the kitchen. She might as well get some dinner, since Brago normally headed out to get his own. He hated eating cooked foods, and would only eat raw things. Mainly things that were… freshly killed.

Sherry didn't like her food like that, but she understood why Brago would want his the way he ate them. He was from another world, so of course he'd have his own eating habits. Brago didn't have good table manners anyways…

The thought made her laugh. Whenever she was invited to go to a special party, Brago would never show up. He thought of those parties as a waste of time, but she couldn't blame him. It WAS a waste of time; she didn't know why she went to them anyways.

Perhaps it was a little of her mother's influence on her. As much as she hated to admit it, she had picked up maybe one or two traits from her mother… such as going to parties. Unfortunately, that was probably the case.

When the woman reached the kitchen, she found one of her own cooks. She ordered him to begin her dinner and he went off to work.

The blonde then began to walk through the halls right after eating a small snack of peanuts. Her cravings were peanuts, of all possibly random things.

As she was walking, Sherry stopped to look out another window. The sky had almost turned completely blue, and stars were beginning to appear. She smiled at the sight. Night was also one of her favorite times of the day; it was always so peaceful at that hour.

Then suddenly something grabbed her shoulder. The blonde spun her head around only to see Brago right next to her.

He smirked when he saw that he scared her. "You need to pay attention more." he simply stated. Sherry just laughed.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

The dark mamodo then drew Sherry close to him and kissed her on the lips. She returned the kiss, enjoying every bit of it.

It soon ended and Sherry hugged her husband, and Brago returned it. Sherry turned her head around to look back out the window.

"Don't you think the stars are beautiful?" she asked. Brago didn't say anything at first, but simply nodded his head as he began to speak.

"Yes they are."

* * *

_Gah... short chapters... they drive me crazy... but I had to do SOMETHING for chapter 1! I mean, really people, thinking of chapters and stuff for sequels isn't always that easy! I just thought of a bunch of ideas all in one day two days ago... And now that school is out (for at leat a week, in my case) I'm going to have too much time on my hands... yeah..._

_Well, tell me what you think! And like I've said in some other stories, if the rating needs to be changed then I'll change it. And remember, I need ideas for a story title because I'm not very fond of the one I chose... and thanks!_


	2. Greetings

_Hello again peoples! Back with another chapter!_

_I'm sorry to let you all know, but the chapters in this story will probably remain rather short for a while. Yes, I know, i promised they'd get longer, and they probably will... sometime along the line they'll get longer but I can't tell you when. Why you ask? Because I don't know when they'll get long! It all depends on what mood I'm in and other stuff and whatnot! Okay? OKay!_

_Ah well. Hope you guys enjoy the pathetically short chapter I put up! XD_

_Brago: You're the one who'spathetic._

_Me: Look who's talking!_

_Brago: -growls- I'm not pathetic!_

_Me: Sure you are but what am I?_

_Brago: Twilight, stop it!_

_Me: Who's gonna make me?_

_Brago: STOP IT._

_Me: Iie, i don't want to!_

_-Brago gets mad and stomps off-_

_Me: Isn't it fun to annoy him? -smiles and follows-_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... well... lets just say I don't and end it there._

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**Chapter 2**

**Greetings**

Sherry was walking through her home the next morning. She had eaten breakfast already and was heading to the front door to go outside.

After a minute's walk, she reached the front of her home and walked outside. Fresh air greeted her as she took in a deep breath. It was going to be a beautiful day.

She turned her head around and looked across the yard. Flowers sprung up here and there, and she could see a gardener watering the plants. Sherry then sat down on a chair that was on her front porch, and continued to observe the view.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Brago was walking through the forests outside of the mansion. He was taking a walk through the woods, and also happened to stop by the river for his breakfast. If there was one thing he hated more than cooked food, it was human breakfast food. At least the river provided something to eat…

As he was walking, he heard some rustling sounds in the bushes. He turned his head around, but wasn't surprised to see Zatch Bell snooping about.

"Hey there, Brago!" said Zatch happily. He waved his hand and hopped right out of the bush.

The dark mamodo didn't respond to the king's greetings. He just ignored him and continued to walk along. Once a month, Zatch Bell would arrive from the mamodo world to the human world to pay a visit to his old human counterpart, Kiyo Takamine. But he wasn't the only one; he always brought friends with him so they could visit their old human friends. So Brago was quite used to seeing Zatch pop out of nowhere by now.

"I haven't talked to you in months! I never said 'hi' to you!" said Zatch. He put his hands on his hips and laughed. "I can't believe that I'd forget something like that!"

"You may not have talked to me, but that doesn't mean you haven't seen Me." said Brago flatly. He continued to walk off in hopes of Zatch leaving him alone.

"Well, that's true." The lightning mamodo shrugged. "Oh well! I'm talking to you now, aren't I?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"You're in a grumpy mood."

Normally Brago _wouldn't _be in a grumpy mood, but that was because Zatch never really talked to him. And when the king _did _talk to him, he'd always get annoyed easily.

The lightning mamodo continued to follow Brago through the woods, still talking about random things. "So, how has Sherry been lately?"

Brago stopped walking and turned his head around to face Zatch. He didn't respond right away, but then he said, "Sherry's doing fine. She's expecting her first child."

At this comment, Zatch's eyes lit up really big. "Oh… I see." He grinned impishly. Then, he put his hands behind his head and began to speak in a sing-song voice. "Brago's gonna be a daddy!"

The dark mamodo glared at Zatch. "You have a problem with that?"

"No, but I think it rather amusing."

"How is it amusing?"

"Mm… many ways. But I don't need to speak of them out loud."

"Hn, whatever."

Zatch gave another laugh and he continued to hop about. "Well, I'm going to go see Kiyo now. Glad to talk to you!" And with that, Zatch ran off into the woods to head to his friend's house.

Brago sighed to himself and shook his head. That little imp was going to be trouble someday…

* * *

_Brago is seen hiding behind a tree._

_Brago: She better not find me..._

_-I'm seen walking around the corner looking for Brago, then I spot him and scream happily-_

_Me: There you are! I've been looking all over for you! Don't you know you're not supposed to wander out here?_

_Brago: I've managed it before so i still can._

_Me: C'mon, I'm bored. I know! Let's play a game of tag! -runs up to Brago and hits him hard-_

_Me: TAG! You're it! -runs away laughing-_

_Brago: ...What's tag?_

_NOW TO MY REVIEWERS!_

_**PsychicLunar: **WEll, glad you like it. It all really depends on what happens in the story to make good titles, that I know. Eh, who knows. I MIGHT keep the title, but... it'd be nice to have a different one. Ah well. I'll try to update this story quickly but I've decided to take it rather slow since... well... I don't know why. Probably because I've got other stories and... yeah. XD_

_**Enula: **Yeah, it's another sequel. -sighs- I had a lot of people (Ok, maybe not a lot but a few) say things like "make another sequel" or something. BUT, I'm not going to go overboard and make another sequel over and over again, this'll be the last one, that's for sure... well, I might keep the title for this story. It just all depends..._

_**Rae:** Here's the next chappy!_

_**Crying White Wolf: **Glad you like it! Now, there, ahem, MIGHT be somebody you don't like in here. -grins impishly- Hehhehheh... yeah. There's going to be a new character, you may or may not like her, but it just all depends. Whoa, too much info. How did i let that one slip? -smiles-_

_**FennFeatherDragon: **Here's the next chappy!_

_**Sara: **No, Kalu will not be in this story. I'm going to try and keep this one different from "A Gift from the Dark", I dont want to have to have the same characters reapearing in each story. Then it would take away its speacialness. Sherry and Brago's child will be a completely different character. And... I don't know if there'll be a lot of torturing in this one. Maybe in the author's notes at the end and beginning (ex. Annoying Brago like in the beginning of this chappy, which was fun). Haha, looks like Brago needs to think more. XP_

_Well, I'm glad you peoples all like this story so far! Very sorry for the short chapters, but I'm not always in the mood to work on this story, and besides, i have other stories to think about. Such as "Oh, the Joys of Being King!" and thinking of ideas for humor/parody stuff. heh, oh well. Enough of my babbling._

_Brago: Yes, enough is enough._

_Me: You're in a grumpy mood today._

_Brago: Yeah, because you're torturing ME, of all people! Why the hell do you do that?_

_Me: Because. It's. FUN! And you are my Muse! Haven't you noticed that the majority of my Zatch Bell stories have you in it?_

_Brago: ... Can't you just leave me alone?_

_Me: Nope! You're on of my favorite characters! How can I? -smiles-_

_Brago: This human world is insane._

_Zatch: It's not that bad. After all, how can **I **compare anything? I don't even remember what the mamodo world is like!_

_Brago: That's your problem._

_Zatch: Twi is right. You are being mean!_

_Sherry: Can't you guys just leave poor Brago alone?_

_Me: Oh, come to save your love, huh?_

_Sherry: -blushes- Huh?_

_-Twi and Zatch grin evily-_

_Me: Oh, yes! You know what I mean!_

_Sherry: I'm outta here._

_Brago: Don't leave me here with these idiots...!_

_Zatch: Have fun you two!_

_-Sherry and Brago stop, jerk their heads around to stare at Zatch. Then they get mad and chase after him-_

_Me: -to Zatch- Good luck!_

_Zatch: -runs away- AAAHH!_

_Well, like i said earlier, hope you enjoyed this patheticly short chapter I put up! And as for now, I'm logging out! Bye!_


	3. Rumors

_Well, I've been updating a lot of stuff here in the past few hours. Probably because I. am. so. BOREd! Haha, yeah... nothing to do but to update stories! It is currently twelve something right now, and... wow... i haven't stayed up this late in a while! Normally i've been kicked off the computer by now and was forced to go to bed._

_Brago: At least I never had to deal with that._

_Me: What the heck are you talking about? You don't even know HOW to work a computer._

_Brago: ...so?_

_Me: SO you've never done anything like that!_

_Brago: ..._

_Me: Hehe! Now, on with the chapter!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... well... let's just say I don't and end it there._

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**Chapter 3**

**Rumors**

Three weeks had gone by, and everything had stayed about the same. Each day that passed didn't bring any new news, except for the fact that Sherry's and Brago's child was still growing.

Zatch Bell had left back to the mamodo world after a week's stay, and Brago even visited the world for reasons he did not speak of. He only said "I wanted to check on something" and that was that.

It was currently night and Sherry was sitting on the couch flipping through the different channels on the television while was munching on a handful of peanuts. She had been shopping earlier that day, just looking for random things and other stuff needed for when the baby arrived.

That's when Brago entered the room.

He turned his head around to face the blonde on the couch. She turned around to face her husband as she smiled and waved her hand.

"Hey there." Sherry greeted. The dark mamodo walked over to her and gave her a kiss. "What have you been up to?" Sherry asked as she plopped a peanut in her mouth.

"Nothing."

Sherry laughed and Brago sat down on the seat next to her. He took his arm and wrapped it around Sherry's shoulders as she leaned her head against him. Of course, normally when Brago said 'nothing' it was just his regular way of saying he had been hunting down more fish to kill and eat, or it was something else that he would do a lot. Typical Brago…

The woman placed her hand over her stomach were her child was. Time was going by so quickly… Here soon her daughter would be born, and she and Brago would become parents…

A sigh escaped her lips and a happy smile grew on her face. Brago looked through the corner of his eye at the blonde. "What is it?"

"Mm… nothing, just thinking."

"About what?"

"Our daughter."

Sherry sighed again and picked up the remote to the television. Pressing a button, she turned off the TV and layed down the remote next to her.

There was a small silence in the room as the two just sat there, thinking about random things. Then after another minute or two, Sherry broke the silence.

"You know… I heard a rumor earlier today." The woman said as she closed her eyes.

"About what?"

"Well, I heard from this group of people that there have been sightings of beings from another world spotted through the town." A laugh was emitted from her lips, and she continued. "But I'm sure it's probably Zatch Bell or another one of his friends."

"Hn."

The two just sat there again in silence as the conversation ended. Sherry opened her eyes after a minute, and just stared out into nowhere. And then Brago stood up and began to walk out of the room.

"I'm going to get something to eat." the mamodo said as he continued walking.

"Again…" Sherry mumbled to herself. Brago shot her a look really quick before he left and the blonde just laughed. It wasn't her fault if mamodos ate so much… but she couldn't help but poke fun at Brago every once in a while.

The woman plopped another peanut into her mouth and made to grab another but noticed that she just ate the last one. So she sighed and stood up. Time to go get some more…

Sherry began to walk out of the room and headed for the kitchen.

* * *

_AAH! Curse the stupid boredom! EVIL!_

_Sherry: What's your problem?_

_Me: What's my problem? WHAT IS MY PROBLEM? MY problem is, is that a new RPG game that I want will not come out until 2006, and then the online version of it won't come out until who knows when! And why aren't you and Brago hooked up in the TV series!_

_Sherry: Don't blame me._

_Me: Why shouldn't I blame you! You have emotions, you have self control (Ok, not really) you should fall for Brago in the TV series!_

_Sherry: Somebody's worked up..._

_Me: Oh, I can get worse. I can talk about the same thing for hours on end. Heh, and I really would, too..._

_Sherry: That's nice._

_Me: Isn't it?_

_Zatch: What's nice?_

_Me: -freaks out- Where'd you come from?_

_Zatch: Dunno. I've lost my memories, remember?_

_Me: Well, that's true. Oh, do me a favor. I'm bored, so go poke Sherry._

_Zatch: SOUNDS LIKE FUN! -pokes Sherry-_

_Sherry: This world hates me..._

_Me: He-he-he!_

_NOW TO MY REVIEWERS!_

_**PsychicLunar: **The baby's name? Hm, well, there IS a name that I found out about a week or two ago, it's a Japanese name. Moe... that is what I want to name the baby, but I would like to know what it means first, and unfortunately not all sites have all the meanings to names... :-( Well, I'll look for that site you're talking about and think of other names just in case. Eh... who knows, I might find a name that's French that I like better than Moe... Well, here's the next chappy!_

_**Blood of the Wolf: **2...23...45...67... 100... 144! I'm so bored I'll count how many times you said "yes"! (again!) Haha... I really am bored at the moment. Well, the rumor is a hint of something to go wrong. I hope that that didn't spoil it for you, because it should have been obvious that would create some questions. Or else I wouldn't put it in there! ... Ok, that made no sense. My brain must be shutting down... XD And why are you saying that you didn't review chapter 1? You reviewed it. No... Brago yelling all the time wouldn't make him a good father. And really, I made it two years for Sherry to finally be pregnant because I really doubt that Sherry and Brago would be the kind to... rush into things... but I'm not going to discuss that. :-) Do you think Brago would be the type to have a girl for a child? Or a boy? I think he'd be the type to have a girl... but that's just me._

_**FennFeatherDragon: **No... I don't think there's going to be much Brago Sherry torturing. The genre (for now, i don't know if i will need to change it) is currently a general/romance... there's no angst in it. Sorry if that dissapoints you._

_**Sara: **Oooh... you shouldn't be calling Brago that in front of Sherry! XD ha, anyways, here's the next chapter!_

_Ah... well... there's the next chapter! Hope you peoples liked it! -sigh- Only got four reviews for this chapter. Ah well! At least it's better than zero, ne?_

_Brago: Whatever..._

_Me: You sound just as cranky as I am now!_

_Brago: It must be the end of the world..._

_Me: Iie, it's not the end! I'm too young to die!_

_Brago: -snort- Whatever._

_Me: At least I won't becomeold like you! Say, how long do mamodos live anyways? If the mamodo battle takes place every one thousand years... then... wow, you're going to be old... no, not old..._

_Brago: -eye twitches- What will I be then if not 'old'?_

_Me: -smiles- You'll be ancient..._

_-Brago screams with annoyance and stomps off-_

_Me: It's so fun to do that... :-)_

_Well, there's the next chappy! HOPE YOU ALL LIKED IT! I'm signing off... only to be greeted by boredom once again... ta ta for now!_


	4. You Again

_Hello again peoples! Sorry to say this, but school is back again, and I probably won't be able to update as frequently as I had been a week ago. Sorry, but school comes first!_

_Brago: I guess that'll mean you won't be torturing me as much anymore!_

_Me: Oh, just because I won't be able to **write** as much and torture you, doesn't mean I can't in any reviews I put up!_

_Brago: -growls-_

_Me: -snickers- So, I'll still torture you a little... just not as much..._

_Brago: -mumbles- Better than constantly torturing you..._

_Now... on with the next chappy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... well... lets just say I don't and end it there._

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**Chapter 4**

**You Again**

Brago turned his head around to face Sherry. Why o why did she have to bring him here…?

Right now the two were currently in the mall; Sherry had dragged the dark mamodo along with her for the trip. Reluctantly, Brago came, but would rather be just about anywhere besides the mall.

"Why did you take me here?" he said irritably. His eyes scanned the area and others gave him odd looks, and his attention was brought back to his wife. "You know I hate this place."

"And you know I like to have company." Sherry responded. She turned around and put her hand on her hip. "I also know that you're going to be a father soon, so you might as well come along."

"Not like I'll be much help…" Brago mumbled under his breath. Luckily Sherry was oblivious to that remark; otherwise she'd have said something rude back at him.

So the two continued on their way as Brago followed behind Sherry as she led him through the store. People turned their heads in the two's direction as the passed by, and they gave odd looks as they saw the dark characteristics of Brago. He only ignored them as he passed by.

After about ten more minutes of browsing through the store, the blonde turned her attention back to Brago.

"Can we go now?" he asked. Sherry only laughed.

"Yes, we can."

"Finally." As soon as Sherry said those three words Brago was already heading towards the exit. The woman didn't move, she just watched as Brago began to walk, predicting what would happen. And then after about ten more seconds, he came walking back to her.

"Well? I thought that you wanted to get out of here?" Sherry asked, smiling. Brago stared at her, and then he finally responded.

"I don't know the way out. These stupid malls are like labyrinths." the dark mamodo said quietly. This only made Sherry laugh.

"Come on." she said. Brago sighed and followed the blonde. After a few minutes, the two found the exit and left the building.

As they were walking outside, Brago noticed a strange presence around the area. Sherry turned her head around to look at the mamodo.

"Something wrong?" she asked, but he didn't respond right away.

"I sense something." Brago's raspy voice rang out. He looked over at his wife. "And it's strong, but not too strong."

At this comment, Sherry turned her attention onto Brago. Her eyes were a little wide, and she saw that Brago didn't like whatever it was he was feeling, and this made her a little nervous. "Will they come for us?" she asked, but Brago did not respond.

And then, the two heard something walking towards them. They turned their head around to face whoever was coming, but they saw nobody there.

"Show yourself!" Brago said impatiently. He wanted to know who it was that was around there right then and there.

And then he got punched in the back, and was sent staggering a few feet forward. Sherry let out a gasp as she saw who it was, and when Brago turned around, he let out a gasp two.

"It's you again!" cried Sherry, backing up away from the mamodo before her. Brago hissed under his breath and cursed.

"Noru…"

* * *

_Muwahahahaha... CLIFFHANGER! -smiles-_

_And since I have school taking away a little of my writing time... that means LONGER SUSPENSE FOR YOU READERS/REVIEWERS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_

_Zatch: Yes! Fun!_

_Me: I know!_

_Brago: -sarcastically-Oh Joy..._

_Sherry: -same tone as Brago- I'm so happy..._

_Me: Hehehe... now, on to my reviewers!_

_**Crying White Wolf: **Well, you wanted somebody to kill, and I just happened to be planning something for this chapter anyways, so... just wait til' the next chapter!_

_**Rae: **Here's the next chapp!_

_**PsychicLunar: **Well, I wasn't too bored... I just couldn't find anything to do since it was late at night, and I very rarely stay up that late... anywho, I had already written that chapter a few days before I posted it up, I had just wanted to wait a while until I brought it up. So, should I start callling you Fluffy? ha, no, I'm not going to. I don't even HAVE a nickname... I'm called Twi or Twy on this site, but other than that, in real life i don't have one. And, yes, I think you're a very good writer! I love your stories! Heh, honestly, I turn 13 later on in July... I just don't put up my age in my profile so that way no bad people would find out. Y'know what I mean? Well, I tried to go to that website, but it wouldn't let me... :-(_

_**Sara: **No, I didn't say don't call Brago goth (and honestly, i don't think he is, he's just dark), I said don't call him 'hott' in front of Sherry... she might get jealous... :-)_

_**Blood of the Wolf: **Do you like spoilers or something? I kinda do, even though depending what it is spoiling for me I sometimes get mad at myself for finding out the spoiler, but I get over it. XD Yes! Brago is going to be ancient! Ancient I tell you! (no really, if the battle for king takes place every one thousand years then he HAS to become really old or something! O.o) NOW let's see... 1...100...300... 576! You wrote 'update' that many times! 576! (and, no, i did not really count them. I just simply counted how many 'updates' were on each side and multiplied. Easiest trick in the book. XD) And please don't do more than that... I'm sure I know that it took you a pretty long time to write that... XD Oh, and a reviewer (Sara) says to calm down..._

_**Justin: **NEW READER! -smiles really big-Glad you like it, and here's the next chapter!_

_Well, I'm glad all of you like this fic! And you know what... I think I kinda like (for this story) making the chapters short, seeing how I have already made a story that this is based off of, and I didn't even HAVE to make this story... and then you reviewers/readers get mad whenever I leave a cliffy... LIKE THIS CHAPTER! HAHA! And then with school starting, its going to make you e ven more mad!_

_BUWAHAHAHAHA!_

_Ahem, yes, well, there's the next chappy! Hope you all liked it! I'm signing off!_


	5. Keep Away

_I finally got back to writing on this story and not writing poems! Ah well! Here's the next chappy!_

_Brago: Why did you have Noru come back? I thought you had him go back to the mamodo world._

_Me: Eh, it was just an idea._

_Brago: Well, I don't like it._

_Me: You don't like a lot of things._

_Brago: ..._

_Me: Ah well! This has been the longest chapter yet! (I think) Now, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... well... let's just say I don't and end it there._

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**Chapter 5**

**Keep Away**

Sherry's eyes widened and she put a hand up to her mouth, and then pointed it at the mamodo in front of her. "It's you again!" she cried as she backed away.

Brago cursed under his breath. "Noru…" he hissed. The other mamodo just gave a sinister grin as he took a step forward.

"Surprised to see me?" asked the psychic mamodo with a laugh. His eyes wandered first from Brago and then to Sherry. A smile crept up on his lips as he took a good look at the blonde, and he gave a laugh. "Well, well, well… what do we have here? Looks like these two are expecting to become parents."

Taking another step backwards, Sherry's eyes lit up with fear as she saw the wicked glint in Noru's eyes. "Go away!" she said.

Noru just laughed and shook his head. "Why would I when you two are expecting to become parents? Right now, you need to stop expecting, because you two aren't going to become that."

"That's enough talk from you!" Brago said angrily. But right before he leapt to attack Noru, Noru attacked first.

Instead of charging at Brago, he charged right for Sherry. The woman gave a screech and turned around quickly. The dark mamodo jumped in the way of the other mamodo's assault just in time to take it himself.

He gave a grunt of pain as he took the hit, and then he quickly grabbed Noru's arm and flung him to the side. He threw him down onto the ground, and the psychic mamodo gave a yell as he came in contact with the cement.

"Sherry, get out of here!" said Brago quickly as he made to kick Noru. The other mamodo then rolled out of the way just in time before Brago's foot hit him in the face.

Nodding quickly, Sherry ran as fast as she could in the other direction. Thank goodness she had brought her own car…

"Oh, no you don't. I have a mission!" Noru grabbed Brago's foot as he made to kick him again, and threw the dark mamodo over him and onto the ground as well. He jumped up to his feet, but Brago snatched him by the legs.

"You're not going anywhere." Brago hissed.

"Whatever."

Noru them rammed his elbow into Brago's face, causing him to close his eyes and his defense went down for just a second. This was just enough time for Noru to escape Brago's grasp, and kick him away from him.

The dark mamodo fell a foot backwards, and rubbed his eyes to get them to regain focus again. "Damn you." He whispered.

Noru just laughed at him and ran where Sherry was. The woman was scrambling for her keys, which were somewhere in a purse that she was carrying. Right before she found the correct one, Noru ran up to her, and she gave a yell and swung her hand in the air to avoid a direct punch. This caused the keys in her hand to fly up into the air and land on the roof of the car.

Before Noru could try to attack her again, the dark mamodo caught up with him and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and threw him backwards. Noru fell to the ground again with a large thud and gave a groan of pain and rubbed his neck.

"I'll get you for that!" he said angrily.

While Brago went to attack Noru again, Sherry tried to reach up on top of the car and grab the keys. She stretched her arm out, which was very uncomfortable for her, and after about ten more seconds she grasped the keys in her hand.

Quickly, she made to unlock the car door, and soon she flung it open. She hurriedly sat down in the driver's seat, and began to start the engine. But as she closed the door to the vehicle, her eyes wandered over to where a fairly large black book lay with silver writing.

Why hadn't she thought of that before?

Ignoring the car, Sherry snatched up the book in her hands and reopened the door. She began running close enough to where Brago and Noru were fighting.

She flipped through the pages until she found a familiar one, and searched for the best spell. Then, unexpectedly she called one out.

"Reis!"

Without warning, Brago's hand shot up and blasted a purple ball of energy in Noru's face, sending him flying back a few feet. Turning his head around, the dark mamodo gave Sherry an odd look.

"You could have warned me."

"Always be prepared." Sherry said jokingly.

Brago smirked, and brought his attention back to Noru, who was now getting up. When the psychic mamodo saw the spell book in the blonde's hands, and his eyes lit up.

"Damn…" he muttered. Noru then turned his head around, and saw a figure in the distance. He growled again, and shot a look at both Brago and Sherry. "I'll deal with you two another time."

And with that, Noru ran off into the distance. Sherry and Brago didn't bother going after him, or else something unexpected might show up.

The figure that Noru had seen was now visible to the other two, and they waited until they could make out who it was.

"Zatch?" Brago said aloud. The figure, now identified as Zatch Bell himself, came walking up to the other two.

"Hiya!" he said cheerfully as he waved his hand. "I thought I saw some commotion over here, so I came to check it out. But all I see is you two." Zatch directed his attention to Brago and then to Sherry. His eyes lit up with amusement when he saw the woman and he gave a laugh. "Hey, Brago! You were right! You _are _going to be a daddy!" And with that, Zatch let out a whole torrent of laughs.

Sherry turned her head and gave an odd look at her husband. "What's so funny about you becoming a father?" she asked. Brago shrugged.

Zatch gave his last immature giggle and gave a sigh. "Well, seeing that you two seem to be doing just fine, I'll be off! I lost something while I was here the last time, so I came to find it." With that, Zatch gave a wave of his hand and continued to walk along, mumbling something about a Vulcan 300.

Sherry sighed and put her hand up to her forehead. "This was eventful." she mumbled. The dark mamodo placed his arm around Sherry and embraced her.

"Let's go back home." he said quietly, and the blonde nodded. The two turned around and headed for the car as Sherry sat down in the drivers seat. Brago still refused to learn how to drive, for he preferred walking, but wouldn't mind too much if Sherry drove him off somewhere.

The two drove off silently into the night, heading back to their home. But they had one thing to wonder about… Why had Noru appeared in the human world?

* * *

_There's the next chappy! Hm, I think I did better with the fight scene in this chapter than I did in 'Come Back To Me'... what do you guys think?_

_Brago: At least I got to kick Noru's sorry butt._

_Me: Heh, normally you'd be in a bad mood right about now and say something nasty. So, do tell, why are you in a good mood all of a sudden? Hm?_

_Brago: ..._

_Me: Come on, you know there's something that's making you happy:-)_

_Brago: ...shutup._

_Me: Hm, let me gues... Is it --_

_Brago: SHUT--_

_Me: --Sherry!_

_Brago: --up... -growls-_

_Me: Hehehe! NOW ON TO MY REVIEWERS!_

_**PsychicLunar: **Yeah, yeah... I have school again. -sobs-Well, you see, I'm in a year round school, so I'm going to be in school all year long. But, I have the same amount of school days as you, and I'll get frequent breaks throughout the year while you regular-school-people are in it for a massivly long period of time! HAHAHA! So by the time August comes around, I'll be what's called tracked out, and i'll have no school for 3 whole weeks! AHAHAHAHA! AND YOU'LL BE IN SCHOOL WHILE I AM NOT:D_

_**Crying White Wolf: **Here's the next chappy! And yes, Sherry will have the baby..._

_**Rae: **Sorry, can't kill Noru yet! I'll tell you when! (And it'll be awhile before I let you!). Eh, my school starts at 7:30, but it ends at 2:15..._

_**Wolf Called Killer: **Glad you like 'em all! -smiles- And... I'm not telling Blood of the Wolf to stop. I already told her about somebody commenting her on it, but she didn't say anything. I'm keeping out of this argument! -hides-_

_**Blood of the Wolf: **Well, I can't blame Brago. I don't like the mall either... O.o I'll only go to stores to buy what **I** want... and that's normally something related to anime or if its school... Hm, if you doubled the amount of 'updates' you did last time, then that means you did 1,152 'updates'! O.O Oh, and just to let you know... you're scaring a lot of people (read a few of my reviews and you'll see what I mean). Yes! Let's make fun of Brago! Isn't torturing him fun? Brago: LEAVE ME ALONE! Me: NO! -laughs- Ah, yes, well. Don't send the bunnies! O.O_

_**Sara: **...Why would I put Richard back in the story? He's dead. And I don't want to make a zombie-Richard. I've had enough about zombies after seeing Slade from Teen Titans beign a zombie and a commercial for a new movie that has to deal with the dead... o.O And, Amber, I'm not from another country. I'm in the USA. I just go to a year round school... (which means in August when I track out, or when I get out of school, you people will be in school while I'll be out! BUWAHAHAHAHA!) And you're not the only one freaking out. Trust me. I have other reviewers saying about the same thing..._

_**Luminara Windu: **Hehe, yep! I have Noru in here! Well, glad you like it!_

_**MadisonMohawksJD: **Glad you like it! And here's the next chappy!_

_There's the next chappy for all you peoples! And... here's a hint for the next chapter..._

_... Something big is gonna happen..._

_OK, that wasn't entirely a hint, well, maybe it was, i don't know. It's up to you reviewers/readers to think about what it could be. But, I'm not telling!XP_

_I'm logging off. Sayonara:-)_


	6. The Day Has Arrived

_Hello you peoples! Guess what! A certain chapter a lot of you have been waiting for has finally arrived! Are you happy? Do you really not care? Either way, it's a new chapter!_

_OK... that was a lot of pointless rambling... hehe... yes, well, a chapter that people have been waiting for has finally been created! Although, I don't think it's that good. Well, just read and find out!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... well... let's just say I don't and end it there._

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**Chapter 6**

**The Day Has Arrived**

Another week had gone by, and right now it was currently night. The stars outside were twinkling brightly and welcoming everything in the world for the hours of darkness. Up above was also the moon, which also seemed to be smiling down upon the world.

In the hospital, Brago looked down at his wife. She smiled up at him, and he gave a smile back. The dark mamodo thought about the events that had just happened in the past couple of hours. It had all started out as a normal day…

_FLASHBACK_

_In the Belmond's mansion's sitting room, the fireplace was lit up with the dancing colors of fire. Sitting on a couch near the fire was Sherry, who was reading a book. Brago was sitting next to her, just enjoying her company and thinking about different things, such as the incident a week ago with Noru's appearance._

_It was quiet in the house, and all that could be heard was the cracking sounds from the fireplace and an occasional sigh from one of the two beings on the sofa._

_Sherry flipped through another page in her book and let out a laugh as she read a few lines. The dark mamodo just turned his head to look around at the blonde._

"_What?" he asked._

"_Oh, it's just something funny happened in the book. That's all." Sherry said with a laugh. Brago just rolled his eyes and then stared into the sparkling flames of the fire. What was the big deal over reading a stupid book? What was so funny about that?_

_Whatever it was, he didn't really care to know. It must be something that humans enjoy…_

_Suddenly, Sherry let out a gasp, and she dropped the book to the floor. Brago jerked his head to face his wife._

"_Now what?" he asked with a little concern in his voice._

_The blonde's eyes were wide with different emotions seen through them. She turned her head around to face the mamodo and gave an illegible look. "I…" But she was interrupted as a look of pain took over her face, and she closed her eyes tightly together. This made Brago stand up with concern._

"_What is it!" he asked. His eyes bore down onto the blonde, and she eventually reopened her eyes to look up into Brago's cloudy ones._

"_I need to go to the hospital."_

_Hearing this statement, Brago's eyes lit up with realization. "Is it time?" he asked, a little more calm this time. Sherry nodded her head and she closed her eyes again._

"_Well alright then." The dark mamodo sighed and picked up the blonde, and she gave a gasp of discomfort._

_Brago brought Sherry to the hospital; and it was rather odd for a lot of people seeing somebody not human carry one that was human and one in labor at that. Sherry even yelled at Brago for taking his time, which only made the two get in a small argument. This was also something that caused people to stare. It was very odd indeed…_

_END FLASHBACK_

So of course, Sherry had given birth to the baby girl that she was now currently holding in her arms. The woman slightly lifted her head so she could look at Brago in the eye. She smiled again, and Brago grabbed her hand.

"You alright?" he asked her. She gave a small laugh and nodded her head.

"Yeah… just tired."

"From all that yelling I'm sure you are."

"Hey…!"

Sherry frowned and flicked Brago's hand. He only smirked and held it tighter, and then looked down at the baby girl in the blonde's arms.

"So, what should we name her?" asked Sherry.

"I don't know."

"Come on, Brago, she's your daughter."

"She's yours too."

"I know that, but still. Just _try_ and think of a name?"

"I can't think of any."

"You didn't even try."

"Yes I did."

Both Brago and Sherry continued to bicker for a short while longer, until Brago gave up and 'tried' to think of a name. Before he could think of one, Sherry spoke first.

"How about Fae?" she asked, looking up at the dark mamodo.

"Fae…" Looking down at the baby girl in the blonde's arms, Brago nodded his head. "Yes, OK. That settles it, her name is Fae."

He watched the baby breathe in a few more of her first breaths, and he smiled again as he then turned his attention to Sherry. The blonde then handed the dark mamodo the small child, and he took her in his arms.

"You look cute together." said Sherry with a laugh. Brago didn't respond, but just continued to stare at the little baby girl in his arms.

So it finally happened. He was a father. Brago, the mamodo who was once feared by many mamodos (He still does scare some still) had finally become a parent. It was an odd feeling, really, and he didn't know what to expect either. He had no idea how it would feel, and he couldn't even describe it. Sherry was feeling the same way he was, except in her case she was a mother.

Fae had a pale skin color like Brago's, but not too pale. It looked more of a human-pallid color than a not-human color, and she also had the same shape of eyes Brago had, but no markings. Yet, she did have the same markings on her arms like the dark mamodo.

Brago handed Fae back to Sherry, and she held the baby girl tight in her arms. She gave another smile up at her husband before she closed her eyes and fell asleep. It had finally happened… they were both parents, and they both felt good about it.

However, many more things were still to come. Both good… and bad.

* * *

_There's the end of the chapter! Don't worry, it's not the end! There's still a lot more to go:-)_

_Well, please tell me what you thought in your review! Flames are welcome, but please be nice! NOW ON TO MY REVIEWERS!_

_**Blood of the Wolf: **Your goal, huh? Hm, now THAT is what I call interesting. XD I don't exactly know if it would be anger management... let's just say you need something to keep you calmed down and not hyper XD. And... basically what Noru meant by the 'mission' thing is to get rid of Sherry and the baby. But the other question I'll let you figure out on your own. :-)_

_**PsychicLunar: **I go to a school called Lufkin Road Middle School... Thank goodness I just got over with 7th grade, that means that this evil teacher named Ms. Gordon won't be able to torture me anymore! -smiles- It's funny, because a lot of people talk about how much they hate her, and there's only a handful of students who might actually LIKE her... O.o_

_**Rae: **No, no, you can't kill Noru yet! I'll let you know when! (Mind you it will be a while). Anyways, here's the next chapter._

_**Crying White Wolf: **Here's the next chappy._

_**Wolf of the Blue Moon: **Here's the next chapter._

_**Alison: **Well look who's back. :-) Anyways, I'm glad you like my stories! And... your e-mail didn't show up, just to let you know. You have to put it up in a certain box in the anonymous review. It should say where, and... Honestly, I don't really know what I'd say in the e-mail._

_**FennFeatherDragon: **I know that that was probably the longest chapter I've written (for that story). Eh, I've decided to keep the chappies slightly short so that way I can make it a little longer, and keep the suspence up, and besides, I don't really know what I'd put in them to make them longer... -.-_

_**Wolf Called Killer: **Yes, I have noticed that 'wolf' is used in a lot of names. Heh, I'm different:D_

_**Sara: **Yep, Noru was trying to kill the baby. And the onlyway he could pretty much do that was to kill Sherry along with Fae. And I go to Lufkin Road Middle School. It's not evil (a few, err... A teacher there is evil, not the school), I can't help it if its year round, but surprisingly I like year round better._

_**Emria: **Here's the next chappy._

_**elisa: **Well, Fae (the baby) finally appears in this chapter, and i have described what she looks like (a little, anyways). Raven doesn't entirely look like Brago... she's just another dark character._

_11 reviews! COOL! XD Haha... yeah... __Anyways, hope the chapter was alright!_

_Brago: ...I'm a dad?_

_Zatch: -in a sing-song voice- Brago is a daddy! Brago is a daddy!_

_Brago: -glares- SHUT UP!_

_Zatch: Brago is a daddy! Brago is a daddy!_

_Brago: Shut the hell up already!_

_Sherry: What? You don't like being a parent?_

_Brago: -gives odd look- Uh..._

_Sherry: I thought that you would be happy..._

_Brago: I--_

_Me: Aw, look at what you've done Brago. You've made Sherry cry!_

_Sherry: -growls- I was NOT crying!_

_Me: ... you weren't?_

_Sherry: No!_

_Me: Oh..._

_Zatch: Brago is a daddy... Brago is a daddy..._

_Brago: AUGH! ZATCH SHUT UP!_

_Zatch: -quieter- Brago is a daddy... Brago is a daddy..._

_-Brago chases Zatch around room-_

_Brago: If you weren't king I'd strangle you by now!_

_Me: hehehe... now, thanks for reading the chapter! Hopefully I'll get the next one up soon, but until then, I am signing off and am going to go do who knows what! TA TA!_

_Zatch: -sings while being chased-Brago is a daddy! Brago is a daddy!_

_Brago: AAAAH!_


	7. New Light

_-sighs- Another short chapter. Ah well. There's a cliffy so that'll get you all reviewing, begging to me to update... HAHAHAHA!_

_Ahem, yes, well, there IS another cliffy! Heheheh... Responses are at the bottom as usual! Enjoy!_

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**Chapter 7**

**New Light**

Sherry watched as the baby girl in her arms closed her eyes and began drifting off to sleep. A smile played with the woman's lips and she tilted her head to the side, looking down at Fae. She was now currently six months old, and was a healthy being. Although she didn't sleep too much, she didn't fuss too much, either. But after all, she was half human and half mamodo, so the two sides probably clashed together…

Turning around, the blonde looked over at her husband who had a small trace of a smile as well. He gave a smirk and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, for Fae was still in her arms, and kissed her.

Smiling, the blonde looked from Brago then back to her daughter. "She looks like you." she commented, turning her attention back to her husband.

"Oh? How exactly?" the dark mamodo inquired.

"She has your eyes."

"So?"

"C'mon, you have to admit, she looks like you in different ways."

"Maybe, but I see a little of you in her, too."

Both smiled a little more as they talked some about their daughter. Then after a few minutes of talking Sherry walked over to where a small crib lay, and she laid Fae in the soft blankets of her own bed.

After she set her down, Sherry walked over to a couch and sat down. The dark mamodo walked up to her and took a seat next to her and wrapped his arm around the blonde's shoulder again.

Sherry leaned her head against Brago's shoulder as she looked over at her daughter from where she was. The fabric covering the crib was slightly see-through, so she could tell where Fae was sleeping.

Brago looked over at the blonde's face. She was calm and relaxed. A smile was placed on her features and was still focusing on their daughter. He turned his head around in the same direction as well as a small smile crept upon his inhuman lips.

"What is it?" he asked as he glanced back at Sherry.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking as usual."

"You think too much."

"I do not."

"Yes you do."

"You used to think too much, y'know. And you still do."

"Do I?"

"Yes."

A playful smirk crept on Brago's features as he pushed Sherry onto the couch and kissed her neck. The blonde gave a laugh and teasingly pushed the mamodo off of her. She sat back up and gave him a hug as she glanced at her sleeping daughter.

Then, there was a knock at the door, and the two parents looked over to the direction of the noise.

"Well, might as well go get see who it is." said the blonde. She stood up and headed over to Fae's crib, picked her up, and walked in the direction of the door. Brago followed.

When the two reached the door, Brago opened it for Sherry since their daughter was in their arms, and he took a step backwards.

Then, his eyes lit up with recognition as he saw who was at the door. Sherry just stared at him with a confused face, for she did not recognize the person.

With a growl, Brago frowned and glared at the person at the door. "Not you…"

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_CLIFFHANGER! HAHAHA! -smiles-_

_Now... anyways, thought i'd add a few months to the time line so that way I could make Fae just a lil' older... Didn't want to have to deal with chapters with Sherry/Brago having to take care of a newborn the entire time... that would just bore me to have to write all about that... -.-_

_ANYWAYS... on to my reviewers!_

_**Emria: **-gives you a look- I take it you didn't read my other story "Come Back To Me", did you? Because if you did, then you'll find out who Noru is. Noru is a character I made up, and is a mamodo, and I'm sure you could tell that he was from the other chapter. He's not in Konjiki or Zatch Bell... made up character! I suggest you read CBTM so that way you'll know what happened, this is a sequel y'know... (And CBTM is a sequel toaone-shot I made, too (Goodbye), so you can read that one first if you wanted, butthere's a flashbackin its sequel, so you don't HAVE to...)HA, well, anyways, glad you like it!_

_**Blood of the Wolf: **This song is so fun to sing now! Brago is a daddy! Brago is a daddy! Brago: SHUT THE HELL UP! Me: No, i don't want to! And besides, what's wrong with telling the truth anyways? Sherry: -looks at Brago- Yeah, what's wrong with it? Brago: -says nothing- Me: Oh, and I don't want to forget about YOU Sherry... Sherry is a mommy! Sherry is a mommy! Sherry: Shut up! Me: Ha... Well, anyways, no, i don't know if they have them. I bet they'd be pretty useful for certain people around here... -laughs- And I think your stories are GREAT! (Ok, I've only read that one Zatch Bell one, but it's still good!) I find myself wondering why I can't be as good as others like you! You're better than me, and I don't care what you say! Speaking of stories, are you updating yours anytime soon?_

_**Rae: **Yeah, it's a lil' like that... I looked up Fae and found that it means fairy..._

_**Wolf of the Blue Moon: **You'll just have to find out in time! -evil grin-_

_**Crying White Wolf: **Here's the next chappy!_

_**elisa: **Fae means fairy... anyhow, here's the next chappy!_

_**PsychicLunar: **OK, maybe I should just say this in some side A/N's... Fae means fairy! Heh, and no, I didn't know it was a character's name in Cowboy Bebop. But I do know that it's the name of a character from Harry Potter... I just remembered that as i was reading a lil' of the new book... I'm so hopeless... XD Well, I'm finding more people than I anticipated to be the same age as me on here... but it's COOL! I do know that there's a girl from my school that has joined this site, but I have no idea what her pen name is... ah well. Here's the next chappy._

_**Alison: **Here's the next chappy! And... about a kissy one shot with KiyoSherry... I don't exactly care for that couple... I won't mind reading good stories about them, but I prefer the BragoSherry pairing. Sorry, but I don't want to do a KiyoSherry story... no inspiration or whatnot..._

_**Soul's Eclipse: **Here's the next chapter!_

_**Sara: **How is your school the most evil in the entire world? I thought that one of the elementary schools I went to was the most evil, but that was when the old principle was there... and they're retired now, so I hear its better. Anyhow, And... Brago's parents? Hm? I didn't even know he HAD parents... Brago: Hey, then how do youexpect me to be here today? Me: Um... you just popped out of a lil' hole in the ground? Brago: -glares- Me: eheheh... yeah... Say, Did you mean to say Sherry's parents? Just wondering..._

_Well, there ya go people! 'Nother chapter! HEH, and a CLIFFHANGER is here too!_

_Oh, and before I forget, for anybody who wants to know, Fae means Fairy._

_And my birthday's coming up this Thursday! And I'll be going out to have a sushi-dinner with my parents at a GREAT place to eat it!_

_Well, that's all for now! ta ta! I'm signing off!_


	8. Nokimo

_Hm... turns out that I was able to get on the computer after all while the Japanese exchange student was here... :-)_

_Well, I'm updating this story out of all the ones I have because this was the only one that I knew what I wanted to do on it... so hereyou are! The next chappy:-)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... well... let's just say I don't and end it there._

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**Chapter 8**

**Nokimo**

With a growl, Brago frowned and glared at the person at the door. "Not you…"

Sherry tilted her head to the side and put on a confused look as she stared at her husband. "Brago, who is this?" she asked, now shifting her gaze upon the person at the door.

The person at the door had a slightly pale skin color, and her hair was a forest green-black color. Her eyes were also green and were rather large, like Brago's, and she wore a strange outfit with consisting colors of green and black. She also had a strange black design on her eyes, similar to Brago's but different.

Now seeing what this person looked like, Sherry's eyes widened with realization. What was another mamodo doing here?

"Why, hello Brago. Long time no see." said the mamodo girl cheerfully, completely ignoring the blonde in the doorway who only frowned. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"

The dark mamodo just growled a "No," and shot her a look. "Nokimo, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Nokimo?" Sherry echoed. The mamodo now identified as Nokimo still paid no attention to her speaking.

"Why, I came here to visit you, Braggy-poo!"

Braggy-poo? Sherry narrowed her eyes and looked over at her husband. "Brago, why is she calling you by that ridiculous nickname?"

"Ridiculous!" cried Nokimo, now hearing Sherry's words. "It is NOT ridiculous! That is a cute nickname, and I don't care what you have to say, whoever you are!"

"The nickname _is _ridiculous." the blonde shot back. "And if I hadn't known better, I would have thought that a five year old made it up!"

"She _was_ five when she made it up." mumbled Brago, but Sherry was oblivious to that remark. "Nokimo has been calling me that all her life."

Turning her head to the side, Sherry raised an eyebrow. "All her life?"

He nodded his head glumly and gave an irritated sigh. "And it annoys the hell out of me." After he said this, Brago turned to face Nokimo. "Now, why are you here?"

Nokimo giggled and put her hands on her hips as she shook her head. "Have you forgotten already? I came here to visit you from the mamodo world!"

"And you were allowed to come here?" Sherry immediately asked. The other mamodo shot a look at her and glared.

"Well, duh! How would you expect me to get here?" She rolled her eyes and shifted her gaze back upon Brago. "Now that I'm here, wanna go out with me sometime today, Braggy-poo?"

"What!" cried Sherry. She shot her head around to face her husband. "Brago, have you been going out with somebody else?"

"No, I haven't!" he said angrily. "It's just this stupid thing over here has always bugged me throughout my life, saying that she should be my girlfriend! And that is something I'd never allow!"

The blonde's eyebrows rose a little higher. "Oh, so that's what it is?" She turned her head around to face Nokimo, who had a smug expression on her face. "Well, you better stop bothering him. He's my husband."

As soon as the woman said this, Nokimo's expression change immediately. At first her eyes widened in shock, and then she put on a frown.

"How can you be married to him?" she asked shrilly. "Braggy-poo is _mine_!" Then, her gaze shifted down to the baby in Sherry's arms, and she put on a horrible look of anger and despise. Her head then jerked up to the dark mamodo in front of her. "So that's what has happened while I was away from you? You went in and got a worthless human pregnant and became a father? Brago!"

Bearing his teeth, Brago clutched his fists and his red orbs disappeared into the depths of his eyes. "_Sherry is not worthless_!" he hissed. He took a step forward towards Nokimo, and let out an annoyed growl.

"C'mon Braggy-poo!" started the other mamodo. "Come with me and dump this human! You belong with me!"

This only made the dark mamodo even angrier. He looked down upon Nokimo and shot her another nasty look. "Get your worthless face out of here, now!"

"Fine then!" Nokimo spoke angrily. "But that blonde headed twerp beside you sis still worthless! That should be yours and my child! Not hers!"

Brago was about to say something nasty to the other mamodo, but before he could she vanished. The blonde turned her head to face her daughter, Fae, and held onto her tightly.

The dark mamodo noticed her looking down at their daughter, and he wrapped an arm around the blonde's shoulders. "Fae belongs with us, not that thing."

"Yeah…" Sherry nodded her head. "Makes me so angry that she would say something like that!" Sighing, the blonde closed her eyes and then reopened them to look up into Brago's cloudy ones as his red orbs returned. "You sure do dislike her."

Her husband said nothing, but turned his gaze to Fae, who was now waking up. He brushed a finger across her cheek and sighed.

"I hate that damn nickname as well." he muttered. Sherry nodded her head and began to walk back inside the house.

Brago looked out to where Nokimo once stood and cursed under his breath. After that, he headed back into the house to follow Sherry.

* * *

_There's the next chapter! Well, I finally got to get on the computer... but I bet not for long._

_NOW ON TO MY REVIEWERS!_

_**Emria: **Thank you! And I hope you get better soon! (if you haven't already)_

_**Rae: **Here is the next chappy._

_**Blood of the Wolf: **Whoa... somebody's hyper... o.O Anyways, wasn't I the one who first started that song? Well, that has happened before... I made up a song and then it got stuck in my head... XD -in a sing song voie- Brago is a daddy... Sherry is a mommy... hahahahahaha! I'm not better than you! And if you say that your story is 2nd rate (which I don't think it is), then you should at least be thankful that it isn't 3rd rate! -.- AND SUSHI ROCKS! Oh, and remember when I finished up writing 'Come Back To Me' and how you put in some suggestions? Does any of this seem familiar to you...:-)_

_**elisa: **Here's the next chappy._

_**Crying White Wolf: **Here's the next chapter!_

_**Sara: **So, who did you think is at the door? Since I highly doubt you would be thinking of Nokimo. (And she's MY made up character, too. But she's not Noru! hey... i rhymed!) And yeah, i've heard of that rumor too... but I don't know if it is true... MORE RHYMING! And my birthday was thursday... And thank you! What language is Fae in? French of couse! (i chose that because Sherry is French, so what can i say?)_

_**PsychicLunar: **Nope! It's none of them. It's my newly made up character, Nokimo!_

_**FennFeatherDragon: **No, it's not Noru. Also remember that i put in that Sherry didn't recognize the person at the door. So it couldn't be Noru. And glad you liked it!_

_**DarkFairyWarrior: **I'm glad you like them! This WILL be the last story related to 'Goodbye' and 'Come Back to Me'... but anyways, here's the next chapter!_

_There you go peeps! The next chapter!_

_Sherry: I still don't quite get who Nokimo is..._

_Me: She's an evil lil' thing, just like Brago said, and wants him all to herself! So you better start disliking her, Sherry!_

_Sherry: Don't need to tell me again._

_Me: Well... I figured since you have been thinking about a ton of things here lately, I'd just tell you!_

_Sherry: ...? What do you mean 'thinking about a ton of things here lately'?_

_Me: Oh, you know, I've been working on tons of stories that have you in them, and each one has something going on, and then there's the fact that other people have written stories 'bout you... I'm surprised you haven't had a brain overload yet!_

_Sherry: HUH?_

_Me: WEll, i guess that the 'huh' means you have had a brain overload..._

_Sherry: What's that? I wasn't paying attention, my head hurts..._

_Me: -looks off to the side- Yes, yes, yes..._

_HA... well, anyways, i'm bored so i'm going to go off and do something! The house is quiet and everybody is either playing some sort of game or taking a nap or doing who knows what._

_HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE CHAPTER! I'M SIGNING OFF! BYE!_


	9. Sitting Around and Talking

_I am sorry to say that this is another extreemly short chapter. Also, i apologize for the long update... It's just I haven't entirely been in the mood to write on this story, and will not be surprised if I ever get a case of writer's block with this one.. Sorry!_

_Well, I updated, and am waiting to get in the mood (again) to do the next chapter... I'm sure you peeps might enjoy that one. Hehe..._

_Now... let's get on with the chapter!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... Well... let's just say i don't and end it there._

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**Chapter 9**

**Sitting Around and Talking**

It was later in the evening, and darkness had already filled the skies. It was a colder night, and a fire was lit in the fireplace. Sherry was taking a nap on the couch, next to her was Brago, and beside them in a crib was Fae (who was also fast asleep).

Sherry was leaning her head against Brago and was sleeping peacefully with her legs pulled up close to her body. The mamodo was just staring into the fireplace and watching the flames of the fire dance around.

Why did Nokimo appear, he wondered to himself. Why was she here? She would ruin everything!

He blinked a few times and just continued to stare out into the fire. Then, his gaze shifted over to his sleeping daughter in the crib. A smile crawled on his lips and he tilted his head to the side as he watched her sleep.

It felt good, really, to be a father. Though it was a strange feeling for him, he still enjoyed it. He was now a parent, and he shared his daughter with Sherry. She's their child.

But… back to the thoughts of Nokimo…

"_That should be yours and my child! Not hers!"_

The words spoken by the other mamodo echoed through his head, and Brago tried to shake away the thought. His child would _never_ belong with that horrid thing!

Brago then began to think back to his days in the mamodo world and how he would have unpleasant moments and greetings with Nokimo. After a while he physically shook his head.

No… now was not the time to think about the past. It was time to think of the future…

Suddenly Sherry stirred in her sleep, and she slowly popped an eye open. "Mm… Brago?" she spoke drowsily.

The dark mamodo glanced at his wife through the corner of his clouded eyes and smirked. "Look who's up."

Sherry smiled and curled up close to her mamodo husband. She felt that he was tense, so she looked up at him with her azure orbs. "Is something the matter?"

He didn't respond right away, but continued to stare into the fireplace. After a small period of silence, he spoke. "No… just thinking."

"About what?" inquired the blonde.

"Hn, about earlier today."

Raising her head, Sherry looked at the dark mamodo. "Nokimo?" Her partner nodded his head. "Did something happen between you two or something?"

The mamodo froze, hearing Sherry's words. He said nothing, which made the blonde very curious. She sat up and looked at him with her cerulean eyes.

"Brago?"

"No, nothing happened." Brago said. He then sat up and walked over to the door. "I'm going to go out for a while. I'll see you later."

"Where are you going?" Sherry asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Somewhere."

The mamodo was about to walk out the door when Sherry stopped him again. "Love you, Brago."

He looked at her from the spot he was in and smirked. Then he turned his head away and left the room, leaving Sherry to wonder.

Did something happen?

She shrugged, and laid back down on the couch. She would worry about it later. As for right now she was sleepy and wanted to sleep. Closing her eyes, the blonde began to drift in the world of unconsciousness.

* * *

_There ya go... another VERY short chapter! The next one won't be as short! I promise! In fact, the next one will be quite similar to chapter 5... -smiles-_

_Anwyays, on to my reviewers!_

_**Blood of the Wolf: **YOU GOT TRUFFLES? I WANT SOME! -.- Just makesure Brago doesn't get any!Oh well, and I got the Konjiki no Gash Bell manga from the Japanese exchange student... have you seen any pics from the manga? Brago and Sherry look kinda funny! Brago and Sherry: We heard that! .Hehe, Oh now really, I am SO not better than you! How about this... we just say that we have our own special and unique writing stylesthatare different, and are BOTH the same goodness! Will that satisfy you? And I never knew you could come up with such descriptive words! (I wouldn't be able to do even that! SO BE PROUD!)_

_**Crying White Wolf: **You'll just have to see! I'm not saying whether she does or doesn't! HEHE! And I didn't know you two were related.. Hm._

_**FennFeatherDragon: **Have you seen Teen Titans and the episode 'Date With Destiny'? I got the 'poo' idea from that.. XD Yes, Nokimo is VERY jealous._

_**Alison: **Yes, I got the stupid review. Why are you suddenly starting to cuss me out on my stories and poems? I didn't do anything to you! Wait... Or are you just mad because I'm not doing a KiyoSherry one shot? If that's the case, then I really don't have much to say but please stop reviewing and reading my stoires. Because if you don't like 'em... STAY AWAY FROM 'EM!_

_**Sara: **Don't laugh too hard, now. I have a friend who likes Brago n' says he's hott...I just think he's cool. Brago: "(stares at me oddly) Did you just compliment me...?" Me: "Yeah, so, why?" Brago: "You NEVER say nice things about me. Are you--" Me: "I. Am. ME. Don't even ask that, Brago. And I HAVE complimented you... but that was just once..." Brago: (rolls eyes) Me: ANYWAYS,you can't kill Nokimo! I need her for my story!_

_**PsychicLunar: **Eh, I haven't ever met anybody like that before. I've only seen them in movies or whatever... and I don't like 'em, either. Yes you can have some sushi? What would you like? Ha, well, just the other day me, my family, and the Japanese exchange student went to this sushirestaurant called Little Tokyo. It's pretty good. :-)_

_**Emria: **Well, here's the next chappy! Glad ta know you're feeling better!_

_**Soul's Eclipse: **Sorry for the long update! Here's the next chapter!_

_I'm sorry for not updating an exciting chapter in a while... the next one will be better, i promise!_

_Brago: (rolls eyes) Sure it will..._

_Me: Hey, you want me to embarass you again? Or to just annoy you?_

_Brago: From the looks of it, I don't know any other way you could annoy me any more. You keep coming up with the same ideas, and they just don't get any worse._

_Me: Oh yeah? (turns around) HEY NOKIMO!_

_(Nokimo appears)_

_Nokimo: What?_

_Me: Can you just annoy Brago for me? Don't do anything, or you'll really regret it!_

_Brago: (looks at me) What the hell are you thinking?_

_Nokimo: Oh, just ignore her, Braggy-poo! Let's go somewhere!_

_Brago: TWILIGHT MEMORIES! HOW DARE--_

_(Brago gets hugged by Nokimo and then he freaks out)_

_Brago: GET OFF ME! (tries to pry Nokimo off)_

_(Sherry enters room)_

_Sherry: (gasp) Oh! BRAGO! ARE YOU CHEETING ON ME!_

_Brago: What! Sherry i am not! Twilight sent this thing on me now HELP ME GET HER OFF!_

_Me: Hehehe! While I leave those two to struggle, I'll be signing off now! Ta ta for now! I'll try to update sooner! BYE!_

_Brago and Sherry: TWILIGHT!_


	10. Inconvenience

_Goodness... It's been SOO long since i've updated this story. Sorry peeps, but i keep getting writer's block with this one, so... I'm not going to be working on this story very much. Besides, i alreayd have two other's i'm working on and one that's on hold. But this one's not on hold, be aware of that. I'm just not gonna update it as frequently as others..._

_OK! Now, i s'pose that you don't really want to listen to my rambling, do you? Ya just wanna get on with the story. Alright then! Here's the next chapter!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell. If I did... well... let's just say i don't and end it there. However, Fae, Nokimo, and Noru are MINE. HAHAHAHA! MINE I TELL YOU! o.O_

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**Chapter 10**

**Inconvenience**

Another week had passed since the appearance of Nokimo. Brago and Sherry went back to how things normally were and continued to raise their baby girl, Fae. Currently it was afternoon, and the family of three was out of the house.

They were out in the park on the sunny day. Although it was getting closer to dark, the sun was still shining brightly upon the area. Sherry sighed happily and sat down on a park bench after a walk.

"It's a great day to be out," she said. "Don't you agree?"

"Hn, I suppose." Brago personally didn't care too much about whether it was a great day to be outside or not, but he just shrugged so Sherry wouldn't be unhappy. He glanced down at Fae, who was in his arms. Both Brago and Sherry had taken turns in carrying her either with or without the portable hand-held carrier.

The mamodo sat down next to his wife and let her hold onto the baby for a while. She gladly took the child in her arms and smiled upon the infant. Fae was asleep, but soon slightly woke up as she was transferred to different arms.

"Oh look who just woke up." Sherry grinned. The blonde held the little girl closely to her and then smiled up at Brago. He only smirked and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Sherry switched her gaze from Brago to the surroundings around her. "You know what?" she asked.

"What?"

"I think we might be the only ones here…" Sherry said, turning her head side to side. "I don't see anybody around here. Do you sense anyone?"

Closing his eyes, Brago concentrated on the area around him. "Yes… but it's just one person, though." he said.

"Ah… I suppose in a way we are the only ones then."

Brago nodded, but then suddenly the mamodo's eyes opened up quickly with a strange gleam in them. "Wait… no… that's not right…"

The blonde looked at him. "What?"

This time Brago looked at her. "That's not a human… I sense a mamodo."

Sherry's eyes widened. "Are you serious? Who could it be? Nokimo, perhaps?" The dark mamodo shook his head. "Then who?"

"It's a fairly powerful level," commented the mamodo. "It could be Zatch… but it's not strong enough. It can't be him. I don't think it's one of his friends, either."

A puzzled look crossed Sherry's features. "Then… if it's not one of them, then that means…"

But before she could finish speaking, a person jumped out of nowhere and smacked her right in the head with his fists. She let out a screech and fell forward, twisted around and landed on her back so she wouldn't land on top of Fae. The baby started to cry and Brago jumped up.

"Noru, you bastard!" he shouted, now seeing who it was. Indeed it was Noru who was there. His greenish-yellow eyes scanned the scene and he smirked.

"Well, well, well… What do we have here?" he said in a taunting voice. "One little, two little, three little idiots…" He laughed as soon as he said that. "Three then. Interesting. So I see that the bitch finally gave birth?" A sinister laugh escaped his lips and Brago just glared. Sherry, now slowly sitting up, turned around only to face Noru.

"Oh no, not you!" she said with a frown. "What do you want?"

Noru frowned. "Last time we had an encounter I had a mission but I failed," he began and his evil grin enlarged. "But now that I have failed, I have a new mission. I was to kill last time… and I'll kill again this time."

Sherry gasped and held onto Fae, who was still crying. Noru jumped and Brago blocked the punch. The fight was on yet again.

"Sherry, you and Fae need to get out of here, now!" he commanded and sent a fist right into the other mamodo's stomach. Noru staggered backwards and gave a cough. He dodged Brago's next assault just in time by jumping to the side.

The blonde nodded and stood up. A bolt of pain shot right through her head where the psychic mamodo had slashed her, and she put up a hand to her head. "Ow…" With a small stagger she started forward, trying her best to keep her awareness up and hold onto her daughter at the same time.

Noru's fist collided with Brago's face and he took a step back as his hand flew to where he was hit. The dark mamodo removed his hand from his face quickly as he saw Noru swing a clenched fist at him again and blocked it.

He ducked and Noru ran a few more feet ahead than planned. Turning around, Noru's eyes widened as he got tackled by the other mamodo.

They fell to the ground, Noru on his stomach and Brago with his foot on the other's back. Both glared at another and Brago managed to speak.

"Why are you here!" he shouted and the other grinned.

"I already told you. I have a mission."

"Revenge?"

The other did not respond, but just let out a laugh and managed to remove a hand that was under him and whack Brago in the face. He let out a yell and fell down on his back just as Noru began to attack again. Brago quickly rolled over as Noru's foot landed on the grass and he cursed under his breath.

Sherry had just gotten near where the car was when a sudden dizziness came over her. She let out a moan and fell to her knees. Fae was still crying, and she tried to soothe her by talking baby talk, but the fact that her head hurt like hell wasn't helping her think.

The blonde was now sitting down now. She just didn't have the strength the stand up and get in the car. Suddenly she heard Brago calling her name, so slowly the woman turned her head around only to see Noru charging right after her.

Her eyes widened in fright and she shut them tight and held onto her daughter tightly, expecting the pain from the contact to arrive any second now. But it did not come. Instead, all she heard was a muffled cry and she decided to see what happened.

Opening her eyes Sherry saw Noru being thrown down onto the pavement head first. His face was turned in the opposite direction of her, and Brago had just kicked him to roll over with a gasp.

Brago turned his attention to his wife. "Sherry!"

"I… I'm alright…" the blonde murmured. Noru managed to get Brago away from him for just a second and spat at her.

"Not for long." He charged at her again, but was kicked away as the dark mamodo attack him to keep Noru away from Sherry.

While the other two were off throwing a volley of punches and kicks at each other, Sherry tried to stand up again and open the car. Unfortunately she found that she could not. Her legs just wouldn't move and she felt immensely tired.

Fae continued to whimper and Sherry mumbled to her. "Shh… stop crying…" But her feeble attempts to make the baby stop failed.

Brago threw another punch right at Noru and hit him, sending him to the ground. He laid there and coughed, and glared up at the dark mamodo before him.

"Give it up, I'm stronger than you." said Brago as he scowled down at Noru. He only grinned peevishly and laughed.

"Never…"

"Hey Brago! Sherry!"

All three heads spun around only to see someone in the distance. With a quick glance, Noru recognized who it was and cursed under his breath. He shot a look to Brago and then Sherry in the distance and mumbled.

"Again, we'll deal with this later." Noru said coldly. "We'll meet again soon…"

With that, he stood up and ran as quickly as he could into the distance behind some trees. Brago didn't bother to go after him, but just walked over to where Sherry was on the ground.

"Are you OK?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yeah… I just have a really bad headache." She gave a weak smile and then looked back down at their daughter, who was beginning to hush a little more but was still crying. Then both Brago and Sherry's attention was drawn to the person walking up to them.

"Brago, Sherry! Long time no see!" said the other who was now walking up. The others looked at him and noticed who it could be. It was Zatch Bell.

"It wasn't that long…" Sherry mumbled.

Zatch only shrugged. "Well… to me it is." his said and his attention was draw to a fairly sized gash on Brago's forehead. "What happened to you?" he asked, pointing to the injury. "Did you get in one of those street fights? Kiyo's told me about them."

Brago rolled his eyes and gave a huff. "You could say it was one… But seriously, you think I'd waste my time with a bunch of humans?" At this remark, Sherry glared at him and he noticed. "Err… what I meant was… _fight_ humans?"

"I swear, you still need to work on that, Brago." the mamodo's wife commented. This time it was Brago who glared.

Zatch only shrugged and then his attention was drawn to something else. He looked down at the infant in Sherry's arms and smiled. "Oh look at the baby!" he said, pointing to Fae. "She's cute!"

He walked up and leaned forwards, placing his hands on his knees for support. Zatch looked at the child in the woman's arms and then looked over to Brago.

"She has your eyes, y'know." he said with an immature giggle. The dark mamodo glared and huffed, though he couldn't help but well up a strange feeling inside of him when they were talking about his child.

Zatch laughed again and then turned his attention back to the child. "So… This is your child?" It was more of a statement than a question and the others didn't really respond to him. "What's her name?" he asked.

It was Sherry who answered him. "Fae."

"Oh, that's a pretty name." Standing up, the mamodo king looked about. "Well, I guess I should be going now. I was going to visit Kiyo again." He was about to walk off, when he remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot. How _did_ you get those scratches?"

Brago gave him a dull look. "Believe it or not, but Noru was here."

Zatch's eyes widened. "But that's… that's impossible." he said. "Noru is back in the mamodo world. He couldn't have been here. Besides, I'm the only one who knows how to get others in and out of the mamodo world." With a laugh and a shake of his head the lightning mamodo began to walk away. "You're so weird… Well, I'm going now. Bye!"

He ran off after that last comment and disappeared to go find his old human friend, Kiyo. Brago and Sherry looked after him, wondering what that was all about.

If Noru was back in the mamodo world… then who was it that Brago had fought?

The dark mamodo looked down only to see Sherry rubbing her head again with her hand. He bent down to help her. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Mm… It's just this headache… Very painful…" she mumbled. "Noru sure packs a wallop."

The sun began to set on the skies of the park and Brago helped Sherry up to her feet. He walked her back to a park bench near the car so she could regain her strength. He held onto Fae as she leaned against him. In one arm he held Fae while in the other he held Sherry.

Soon as she regained her strength, which hopefully wouldn't be too long, they would head back home. But as for now… she wasn't there yet. Brago watched as both of the two girls, Fae and Sherry, rested. At least the baby had stopped crying and was asleep again… He looked up into the sky, wondering what was to happen next.

* * *

_There ya go! I told you this chapter would be longer:)_

_Oh, and has anybody realized that they have changed the time schedual for when Zatch Bell airs? I don't know about some of you... but for me it's now showing at 8:30 on Saturdays. No longer 9:30. Ugh, they really need to make up their minds on when its coming on. -.-_

_Now on to my reviews!_

_**anonimize: **Cool, so you might join the site? If that's you reason, then that's pretty much the same as mine. THIS SITE ROCKS! XD ..Er, 100 year old woman? Not very common... o.O_

_**Soul's Eclipse: **Here's the next chapter._

_**Yamia Ishtar: **Oh that's alright. I forgive you:)Brago's been very pissed off lately because i'm not the only one who's been teasing him for it. So ya might wanna be careful when attempting to annoy him. XD This is my 2nd story with him being a father n' all... I have one other, A Gift from the Dark, but i think that's going to draw the line for Brago-fatherhood for a while. I'll try to update soon!_

_**Computerfreak101: **Oh dear... I can't imagine what Brago will do to you if you break your oath... Brago: Seriously maim her? Me: o.O Now why would you do that? Brago: I dont know... I'll maim you too if you keep talking. Me: (looks around) CF101, he's saying that if i talk he'll hurt me. Does he do this to_ you _often? Brago: You're talking... Me: Hm, well, i'll deal with you later, Brago, i have to respond to a reviewer. Brago: (rolls eyes) Me: (temporarily ignoring Brago) Well, you've seen Noru already. Richard won't appear in this 'cause... well, he's dead to put it simply. XD So how's it going with Brago's pink fluffy, glitterly, girly dress? Brago: ... Me: I think he's embarrased, ne? Oh yes they must hook up! I wonder if there'd be anybody daring to call up the creator of Konjiki no Gash Bell saying that Brago and Sherry need to hook up. They'd probably earn a strange look from them, that's for sure... -.- You can't kill Noru yet. I'll tell you when... around the end of the story, but that won't be for a while. Heheh, you'll find out what's up with Brago and Nokimo soon!_

_**Crying White Wolf: **Nokimo will appear again.. that is for sure. Hm, sisters. Well, i guess you learn something new all the time:)_

_**Wolf of the Blue Moon: **Here's the next chapter. Sorry it wasn't soon! -.-_

_**Blood of the Wolf: **I like the chocolate ones! Actually, it's just any truffle with chocolate to tell the truth. I LOVE CHOCOLATE! And so does Brago but we really don't wanna get him worked up... Like that one time when he came barging into my house looking for oreos... o.O You remember that? XD I like peanut butter filled... Oh, and if Sherry's conversation is completely innapropriate for younger readers, then i suppose Brago is one of them considering he can't understand her? Wait.. what am i asking... he is younger than her. o.O Nevermind! XD Brago: You babble too much. Me: Yes i do! Blood, d'you ever babble too much? Haha, i'll try to update soon. You'll find out what's up with Nokimo sometime later... (snicker)_

_**PsychicLunar: **Well, i hope that this longer chapter makes you happy! I loved that episode of Teen Titans! The catfight was hilarious! N' it was pretty funny when Starfire was going on and on about how Robin accepts the prom date while she thought it was a duel. You know how she removed her glove and slapped Kitten? Her hand was still on the glove and was also still connected to her arm at the same time. o.O What's your favorite episode of Teen Titans? Mine's either The Prophecy or the one when they get sucked into the TV..._

_**Sara: **Hey, Brago, i don't like crickets either! As a matter of fact i just don't like bugs in general...DIE BUGS! O.O About anything with six legs is an enemy... and although they don't have six legs, spiders are the worst of all...N' so are snakes... I guess Brago really did think there was fish in there. (starts laughing too) HAHA! Ok, here's a camera, Amber! (hands camera) Although i'm sure it'd be too late to use it now... Anyways, i'll try to update soon. Oh, and i have a question: i got a review from sarasmith117, is that you? I know, probably a dumb question but my brain is fried from school and i don't want to think correctly at the moment... -.-_

_OK people! Again, sorry for the long update! But you're just going to have to deal with it on this story now considering i'll be taking my time with it! Hope this chapter was satisfying!_

_Ugh... I tried to download an episode of Zatch Bell yesterday (Thursday), but the stupid computer wouldn't allow it! I come back later today (Friday)in the morning and it still wasn't downloaded. And THEN i come back again later in the afternoon AND IT'S STILL NOT DOWNLOADED! Pisses my off... gr... and it was an episode with Brago and Sherry in it! (cries) EVIL COMPUTER NOT ALLOWING ME TO DOWNLOAD THINGS! (cries even more)_

_(sniff) OK, i'm done. I'll still be working on this story just won't update it as frequently as the others. Plus, i still have a few bugs i wanna work out that i have for in future chapters. So, until i update another story, see you all later!_

_Twilight Memories has now signed off._


	11. Confusion

_Two stories in one day! Alright then! Well, it's been a while since i updated this, so i guess it's alright. :)_

_It's getting late and i really need to get off soon or else. -.- Responses to y'all are at th bottom!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING related to Zatch Bell. But i do own Fae, Nokimo, and Noru! They are mine even though i hate two of them. -.-'_

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**Chapter 11**

**Confusion**

After Sherry was done resting the entire family climbed into the car and she drove them home. It had been over an hour after the fight with Noru, and Sherry and Fae had taken a small nap. This had helped the blonde greatly while the baby girl slept peacefully.

Brago didn't like cars too much, but he could deal with them. The mamodo was currently holding onto the hybrid child in his arms as his wife drove them home.

He stared down at Fae as she slowly opened her eyes, which were also a deep crimson color. The irises were not small like Brago's, but were large and clear, though they were the same color as his.

Sherry smirked when she glanced over at him as he let the baby grasp his index finger with her small hands. "Having fun?"

"Hn,"

The blonde stopped the car since there was a red light on the road. Taking the chance to tear her attention away from the road, Sherry gave a small laugh as she stared at her husband. "You know, she's already becoming a spitting image of you."

"You think so?"

"Yes I do," said the blonde. "She already has your eyes, the markings on your arms, blue-black hair… she looks just like you." The smile placed on her features grew a little bigger as she watched the two even further. It was always a sight to see during these moments…

Sherry then turned her head to the side and noticed the light just turned green. She drove forward again and continued on.

They drove on until they reached the old mansion. Both Sherry and Brago climbed out of the car and headed over to the building. Brago carried Fae in his arms as the blonde clambered out of the other side of the car.

Then suddenly... both froze, staring wide eyed at the front of the house where someone was standing at the door...

…Nokimo.

"Huh?" Sherry was dumbstruck. She thought that she had seen the last of her a long time ago! What did she want now?

"You…" hissed Brago as he walked up to Sherry and handed her their daughter; "What the hell do you want now?"

"Oh, hi Braggy-poo!" cried Nokimo happily as she saw the dark mamodo. She ran over to him but stopped with a frown when she noticed the blonde. "Oh… it's you." she said with disgust.

Sherry frowned. "What are you doing here?" she asked, but the other ignored her.

Instead of answering her question, Nokimo just turned her green eyes over to Brago and smiled. "Come on Brago, I can tell that Sherry is still weak from that battle earlier," she said. "Why don't you just let her… rest… with that little baby while you go out with me?"

Brago stared at the other mamodo oddly as she said this. "Hold on… how the hell did you know about that battle?"

Nokimo's eyes widened but then grinned. Completely ignoring his question like she had done to Sherry, she just grabbed his arm and laughed.

"Braggy-poo! You know I'm impatient, so let's go!"

She tried to tug on his arm but he slapped it away from her with a look of pure hate. "Don't touch me," he snarled. Brago backed up so he'd be next to his wife and wrapped an arm around her. "Since Sherry was hurt, I'm not going to leave her, I'm going to help her. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it, Nokimo."

Nokimo's eyes narrowed as Brago heard that. "Fine, be with that bitch," she said. "Nothing fun happens anymore… Even with the King becoming sick for some… reason, nothing fun happens. Oh well!"

Brago jerked his head to the side. "What? Zatch Bell is getting sick?"

This only made the other laugh. "Oh, so you now want to talk to me? Too bad. I'm heading home for the day. G?night, my Braggy-waggy-poo!" And with that, she disappeared.

Sherry frowned and muttered a curse under her breath. Brago sighed and shook his head. "Damn thing…" he mumbled.

They were both silent for a bit, until Sherry turned her sapphire eyes up to Brago's crimson ones. "Brago?"

"Hn?"

"What exactly happened between you two?" inquired the blonde. "I know something must have happened… and it's not just that she has a crush on you and followed you around everywhere. What was it?"

The dark mamodo let go of Sherry and began walking up to the house. "Nothing happened!" he said. "Come on, we should get Fae to bed. It's getting late."

"…" Sherry stared back at her husband and then sighed. He still wouldn't tell her… How bad was it? She knew that something must have happened…

…But what?

-o-o-o-o-o-

Sherry rested Fae in her crib and looked down fondly at her. "Good night, Fae." she whispered. With a sigh, she turned around and headed back into hers and Brago's room. When she reached there, she noticed Brago sitting on a chair, thinking to himself.

When she walked into the room, he looked up to see her.

Yawning, Sherry began to walk over to the large bed. "Well… I'm going to sleep now," she said. "Good night."

The mamodo sat up and walked over to the blonde. Quickly he kissed her on the lips for a good night kiss and let her climb under the covers. "Good nigh, Sherry," he responded.

Brago watched as his wife slowly began to drift off to sleep. He sighed and turned his head around to look out the window. Two people he hated more than anything appeared in one day… And what a day it was. Why did they come? And what did Nokimo mean by Zatch becoming sick? He looked just fine earlier…

The dark being shrugged and then turned his head to face Sherry, who was asleep. He'd watch over her… Nobody could take her, or Fae, away from him. Nobody at all…

Deciding that he wanted to sleep that night, Brago climbed into the bed also. After what happened, he wanted to be with Sherry. Hopefully… there'd be no intrusions in the night.

Soon the mamodo's eyes closed and he fells asleep.

* * *

_Like i said, i'm in a rush again so here's the responses! Sorry for the short chapter! READ AND REVIEW!_

_**Rae:** I liked it coming on at the later time better... oh well._

_**PsychicLunar:** (cackles evily) Oh you have no idea what is really going on! Heeheehee! You're just gonna have to wait n' find out what! But i will say that it has to do with his powers, yes. Yeah, that was a funny episode. :)_

_**Computerfreak101:** The dress... that reminds me, it's Halloween Monday! I guess we all know what that means. Heh. Here's the next chapter!_

_**Sara:** OK, just checking:) Oh dear don't intrude those two while they're doing that. x.x I dun need no pic of that. Here's the next chapter! Sorry for the long update! But i'm not always in the mood to write on this particular story!_

_**Alison:** Yeah... i already forgave you in the other story. XD Here's the next chapter._

_**Crying White Wolf:** Here's the next chapter._

_**Yamia Ishtar:** Poor Brago... i'm sure he's going through pure torture in there. (laughs)_

_**Soule's Eclipse:** Here's an update._

_**Vincent Wallace:** Here's an update! Thank you for that. N' i don't want a career in writing, i'm gonna be a graphic artist:)_

_**BadBoyUSA:** You'll find out why he does... eventually. Heh._

_**BrokencandlestiX:** Heh, you're goin' after a ghost if you're going after Richard. He's dead... ah well. Here's the next chapter!_

_Sorry if i missed anybody! But it's past one and i REALLY need to get off now and sleep! G'night y'all! XD_

_-Twi_


	12. So Close to the Truth

_Yeah, once again i got rid of an incy wincy bit of writer's block for this story! XP So, here's the next chapter for all you wonderfully patient readers!... Don't hurt me for not updating! (runs and hides)_

_I even managed to get my hands on some Harry Potter Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans... some are really nasty but i think i'll stick with the cinnamon flavor. , I only had one cinnamon unfortunately... (cries)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Zatch Bell and i never will! If i did, Brago and Sherry WOULD HAVE APPEARED BY NOW!_

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**Chapter 12**

**So Close to the Truth**

A cold chill swept through the room and aroused Sherry in her sleep. The air conditioning just kicked on, sending cool air throughout the room. Slowly the blonde opened her eyes, her vision blurry at first but then the silhouette of Brago came into view.

He was lying on his back with his head turned towards her. The mamodo's left arm was stretched out above her head while his right was resting on top of his bare chest.

She smiled drowsily only before shivering again. Damn air conditioning… who was the idiot who had it turn on this early in the morning? It was near the beginning of autumn for crying out loud!

Off to the side, the woman noticed that a clock read 4:33 a.m. It was still early, so the blonde closed her eyes and snuggled up next to Brago. Just a few more hours of sleep…

-o-o-o-o-o-

Light shined through the window and lightened up the room, awakening the two sleeping parents. Sherry murmured something incoherent to herself and then finally managed to mumble out "Is it morning yet?"

Brago woke up as well and the mamodo turned to look at Sherry, whose eyes were now halfway open. He sat up in the bed while Sherry yawned.

"I guess it is," said Sherry with a yawn as she stretched and sat up as well. Her azure eyes drifted over to crimson ones. "Morning, Brago." She smiled.

He smirked yet said nothing as he was given a small kiss from Sherry. She got up and put on her slippers, which were right at the foot of the bed.

"I think I'm going to go get some breakfast," she said, turning towards Brago. "You want to come, too?"

The mamodo shrugged. He had nothing else better to do… Fae could sleep in a little longer so there was no need to go wake her up. She never made much of a fuss anyway.

"Alright," he said as he clambered out of the bed and picked up his shirt which was on the floor and put it on. "But I'm not getting anything. I hate your human breakfasts."

"They're not that bad," said Sherry as they both began to walk down the hall. They passed the room Fae was in; she was still resting peacefully and didn't make a sound when they walked by.

"Yes it is. It's one of the most revolting things I've ever had." Brago glared when his wife let out a small laugh.

"You think everything is bad, Brago."

"I do not."

Sherry smiled. She didn't bother to continue the argument with her husband - after all, they had only had it about thirty million times. It was soon learned to just ignore Brago's complaints.

After Sherry had finished her breakfast - Brago just watched and talked with her as usual- she went into the other room and turned on the TV so she could watch the news. Brago sat down next to her and she rested against his shoulder.

"_In other news,"_ began a lady on the television screen, _"we will be talking about a strange incident that happened last night, right before the daily weather report."_

"Strange incident?" echoed Sherry with a raised eyebrow. "I wonder what that could mean." She glanced at Brago who only shrugged, and began to think to herself about yesterday with Noru and Nokimo. He's hiding something from me, mused Sherry; I know something must have happened between him and that wench. But what? Brago won't tell me anything about it…

She was so close to him… so close… and he wouldn't tell her. He was even right there next to her – he knew the truth, but Sherry didn't.

So close to the truth…

Suddenly her attention was drawn back to the screen once more as the woman reappeared and began to speak. _"Just last night ten people were killed and three badly wounded. Causes of this are unknown, but the surviving victims recall seeing a strange young boy with supernatural strength attack them. This is undoubtedly absurd, and no doubt some sort of illusion from a prank. But the suspect was described and, whether they have super strength or not, will be on the look out. We will talk about the incident later on today—"_

Sherry picked up the remote and turned off the television. With a sigh, she turned to face her husband. "Well… what do you think?"

The mamodo was silent at first, but slowly, gradually, he began to speak. "It's hard to understand what could have happened… but I think it was Noru."

"You think?"

The other nodded. "Either him or Nokimo, that's for sure. They're the only mamodos that return to the human world that would so such a thing."

This only made Sherry ponder a little longer before she decided to do speak, but the crying of Fae from upstairs interrupted her thoughts. With a sigh, she faced upwards to the ceiling. "It looks like Fae want some attention," she said. "We might as well go see what she needs."

Standing up, the two parents walked out of the room and headed up the stairs to see their upset daughter. When they reached the room, Sherry walked over to the infant and picked her up, speaking softly to the small one. Brago merely watched as the blonde rocked the small one back and forth.

Fae's cries slowly died down now that she was in her mother's arms. Her watery red eyes glanced up and she whined.

"I think somebody's hungry," Sherry said, now walking towards the door. Brago said nothing yet again as he followed the blonde down the stairs and into the kitchen. Fae could now use her own bottle now; all that was needed to be done was to get the formula for her and give it to the young one.

Once in the kitchen, the woman filled up her daughter's bottle and gave it to her. Fae quickly quieted down as soon as she was being fed. Brago rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure that tastes just as bad as that other crap you eat," he muttered. Sherry glared.

"Infants have to eat something, you know. Didn't you have to eat something when you were younger?"

"How should I remember that? I barely even remember my own parents, Sherry!"

It was now Sherry who quieted down after that comment. Brago had never really spoken of his family to her... as a matter of fact he rarely even spoke of his past. The only times he did was when he was discussing something that occurred in the Battle for King.

Still holding onto Fae, Sherry's eyes wandered over to meet Brago's. "Do you remember anything of your past, Brago?" she inquired softly, now wanting to know a little more about him. He only shook his head and sighed.

"There's not much to speak about. My parents were killed while I was at a young age and I learned to fend for myself. End of story." The dark mamodo's eyes drifted off to the side away from his wife's gaze.

This didn't stop Sherry from asking questions, however. She wanted to know something that she didn't already. "Well... what about when we were separated those four years after your book was burned? Did anything interesting happen then?"

There was a pause, and Brago's ruby irises slowly moved to the corner of his eye so he could view the other. "…There's nothing to talk about."

A spark of interest in Sherry's mind and she raised an eyebrow. Normally Brago didn't pause like that unless something was important. She desired to know what it was.

"I'm sure at least something happened, Brago," the blonde reassured. "Can't you tell me?" She held onto Fae a little tighter, who was still drinking from her bottle, blissfully unaware of the discussion her parents were having.

"Fine," His words were flat and short. Apparently he didn't wish to talk about it, but slowly he was. Brago sighed and looked away. "After I was sent back to the Mamodo World… Nokimo, she…" It was there he stopped, realizing what he was saying; he halted his actions and discontinued. "No, no, it's nothing, really. She just bothered me the entire time."

A cross look overwhelmed Sherry's features and she took a step forward. "Brago, what is it? You can tell me! What happened?"

"It's nothing, Sherry," Brago responded, turning away.

"But Brago, please…!"

"I said it's nothing!" he yelled, spinning around. This frightened Sherry and she jumped back a little with widened eyes. Fae stopped what she was doing too and started to whimper again.

"…Brago…."

He blinked, and realized his actions yet again. He sighed and turned back around, his back facing his wife.

"I need to go out for a walk. I'll be back in about an hour."

Sherry was about to stop him, but the demon had already walked out the door. She sighed, and looked down at her daughter. "I just hope he comes back soon…"

* * *

_A/N: There's the next chapter, hope you liked it! And about the 'Brago's parents being killed' thing, i'm not too sure if this is true or not but i've seen it in other stories plus i think i read it's true on a website somewhere... Well, RR!_

_Next chapter: Sherry recieves a phone call from an old friend._


	13. Let's Chat

_Damn... i lost the lists of chapters that i had planned for this story. Now i'm probably gonna have to think of new ones ALL OVER again! CRUD! Either that or look extra harder 'cause i really don't wanna do it all over again. Hmm... maybe it's at my mom's apartment... Meh._

_Yeah... uh... I updated? XD Guess who appears for those who haven't already!_

_Disclaimer: I swear i don't own anything related to Zatch Bell. But i do have to say that i own these characters: Fae, Noru, and Richard, As much as i don't care about Noru and Richard, yes they are mine._

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**Chapter 13**

**Let's Chat**

The ringing of the phone echoed through the house, over and over again, as if waiting to be answered. It took a moment for Sherry to realize that it was indeed the phone and not her imagination. She darted to the nearest telephone as fast as she could and picked it up.

"Hello, Belmond residence, this is Sherry speaking."

There was a slight pause and the blonde's eyes widened with realization as soon as she received an answer. A broad grin crept upon her lips and she smiled with shock. She spoke into the phone, grasping it with both hands now, and talked in a quivering yet excited voice.

"Is... is that really you?"

-o-o-o-o-o-

Brago glanced over to his wife, whom had just answered the phone. He hadn't seen Sherry this excited in quite a while, he thought to himself. Actually... the most excited he had ever seen the blonde was probably when she found out that she was pregnant with their child. But right now this even almost surpassed _that_ exhilaration. The anticipation of what was going on nagged at his mind.

"Oh, that's great to hear!" said Sherry through the phone. She let a laugh and nodded her head, as if agreeing with something to herself.

What's great to hear, mused Brago, who could she be talking to?

He shrugged to himself. The only way he was going to find out was to wait until Sherry was done talking with... whoever it was. The demon leaned on the wall with his arms folded and continued to watch his wife with curiosity.

"Yeah, that is tough. I don't think I was ever taught that," stated Sherry. This was getting utterly confusing for Brago.

What _was_ she talking about?

"Oh, I don't think that they'd do that. Really? Alright then..."

Brago grumbled and stared off in the corner. It was then he decided to get a quick glass of water so he temporarily left the room. About two minutes later when he returned with the glass in hand, Sherry was still talking.

"Yes, later today do you propose? Alright, I'll see you... Where? Oh... alright! Yes... you know the place still, right?" Sherry smiled as she made eye contact with Brago as he stared with a bemused look at her. The blonde quickly went back to talking. "Alright, I'll see you later then! Bye!" She hung up.

Turning around, Sherry had the widest grin on her face as she beamed and walked over to her husband.

Now Brago could finally ask: "So, who was that anyway?"

His response was a smile and two words: "It's Koko!"

-o-o-o-o-o-

Scurrying around, Sherry was trying to find everything that she could that looked out of place. Sure she had servants to take care of the cleaning, but she couldn't trust them with this- not on this occasion. It was too special... her life time friend, Koko, was finally returning home.

"At long last, I get to see her again!" she would whisper to herself over and over again. "It's been so many years... I've only spoken to her about once since the Battle for King, and even then she didn't say much. She just said that she was leaving, and nothing more!" Sherry moved a lamp in a different spot- a place where she thought it looked much better.

"Sherry, who are you talking to?" inquired Brago. Honestly, she was jabbering about things he didn't even know about and it almost looked like she had an audience she was talking to.

He received a glare from his wife before she returned back to running about the room, looking around every nook and cranny for something she didn't like.

"But honestly, Brago," continued Sherry. "I don't even know what happened to her after the Battle for King! I don't know who defeated her and Zophise or... or anything!"

The mamodo merely rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough. You did say she was coming here today, right?"

"Yes, in about an hour. She just came back in town after finishing college!" Her eyes glittered. "That's what she wanted before... before she was taken over." Although it was a difficult subject to deal with, Sherry managed to keep her smile. It was too overwhelming knowing her friend was back.

"Was that it?"

"No, we just talked about where we've been for the past few years. She told me she's been in college and I just told her I had a family."

"You _did_ tell her about me and Fae, right?" Brago asked, thinking about how the previous battle may have affected the young girl's attitude towards mamodos. He didn't want to have a human with a spasm running about...

"Uh..." Sherry flushed. "I... I guess I forgot to mention that in the heat of excitement?" She blinked. "Errr... I'm sure that Koko won't mind too much."

"Hn," Brago merely rolled his eyes and mentally sighed. "If she has a fit don't blame me."

"Well..." the blonde trailed off. She herself couldn't think of how Koko would react. She only knew little of the things that Zophise had done to her while she was under his control... And the last time she had talked to her old friend she seemed rather depressed. "At least she's happy now..."

"What was that?"

"N-nothing, I was just talking to myself." Sherry flushed a little more.

"Sherry..." Brago stared at her. He wasn't quite sure either what would happen. Though...

"What?" The blonde shook her head. "Brago, I'm sure that she'll be fine. Come on, I want to get ready for when Koko gets here- it's been way too long!" At this Sherry hustled off to continue what she had been previously doing.

After a long while, Sherry managed to get everything just about how she wanted. She was too excited to see her old friend. How many years had it been? Six? Yes, that was about it.

As the woman stared out the window she noticed a taxi pull up on the side of the road near the driveway. The blonde held her breath, waiting anxiously to see who it was. A figure stepped out of the car... it was Koko.

"She's here!" Sherry darted to out of the room, past Brago who was staring at her oddly, and to the door. She threw it open and stared out beyond her yard. "Koko!"

The brunette turned to the side and let a large smile cross her face. "Sherry!" As the blonde ran across the yard and met up with Koko, they both embraced in a warm, friendly hug.

"Oh, it's so good to see you again, Koko," said Sherry happily.

"Yes, me too," The other ended the embrace and looked at Sherry in the eye and smiled. Sherry mirrored that act.

"You've changed since the last time I saw you, Koko," commented Sherry. She then thought to herself... Koko's hair had grown slightly longer since she last saw her. And, for one, she no longer held the possessed, lilac eyes that Zophise had given her. Her height had even increased as well...

"You have too, Sherry."

"You think?"

Koko smiled warmly. "So, how have things been for you lately? You said you had a..." It was then when Koko stopped. Up on the doorway stood Brago, and she was staring indirectly at him.

Noticing this sudden act, Sherry turned to look behind her and realized that Brago was there. She brought her attention back to her old friend, whom had an illegible expression painted on her face.

"Sherry... What's he doing here?" inquired the other curiously, slightly tilting her head to the side. "Sh-shouldn't he have gone back during the Battle for King...?"

"Uh..." The blonde took a slight step backwards and glanced behind her once more. "Koko... that's my husband."

"..."Koko merely stared, mouth slightly agape as she looked from her best friend to the mamodo up by the doorway. She looked down when Sherry took her hand and sighed.

"Come inside and let me explain."

-o-o-o-o-o-

It took a bit of time to explain to her old friend what had been going on for the past six years, but eventually Sherry managed to get the entire story out. From Brago being sent back to the Mamodo World that one, fateful day, to the story of Richard and Noru, and the current story with the return of Noru.

Slightly nodding her head, the chocolate eyed girl took in every detail that was just given to her. This is odd, she mused, and Sherry and Brago actually fell in love with another, but... what about her? She was merely possessed into _thinking_ she loved her partner. Zophise was filled with lust and hate. He did things to her... unthinkable things... _unbearable_ things... But these other two eventually married!

"I'm sure that this may be difficult for you to believe at first," began Sherry, staring down at the ground and then redirecting her attention to Koko once more, "but it's all true."

"Sherry, I..." Koko couldn't finish her sentence. It was too... strange... She finally managed to regain her voice. "I just didn't think that... that this could ever happen... I mean..."

"I know," stated Sherry, glancing to Brago quickly before continuing, "and we both didn't think that it could either. Yet it did, and here we are to this day." She shifted uncomfortably on the couch she was sitting on; Brago was right next to her. They had taken Koko into the living room inside the mansion and sat down as the story was let out.

There was a small silence in the room and nobody moved nor spoke. Koko fiddled with her thumbs and stared at the ground in an odd silence. It was Brago who finally broke the tension after a minute.

"I think I'll just go get Fae..." he said quietly and walked out of the room. Koko didn't move her head but followed him with her brown eyes as he left. She then turned towards her friend as soon as the mamodo was out of hearing range.

"Fae?"

The other nodded. "Yes... that's the name of our daughter."

Koko's eyebrows rose. And they even had a child together, too... "How old?"

"About six and a half months."

For once in a few minutes Koko's lips curved upward into a smile. She couldn't help but grin at the fact that the child was still a small infant. "They're cute at that age, aren't they?" she said, trying to forget about her previous thoughts.

The other grinned as well. "Yeah... they are."

A minute or two later, Brago walked into the room with the baby girl wrapped in a blanket in his arms. The dark mamodo was looking down at the child, and then glanced over to Sherry and walked over to her.

Koko stared in awe. She hadn't seen anything like this before in her entire life... The demon held the little one in his strong, muscular arms and yet tenderly handed over the young hybrid infant over to Sherry.

Taking Fae and then looking over to her friend, Sherry smiled. "Koko... this is Fae." The child then yawned a moment afterward and then slowly opened her eyes. Realizing that somebody new was in the room, her eyes were directed over to Koko.

The brunette still didn't say much, but she stared at the eyes of Sherry's daughter. They were red... just like Brago's... like a mamodo's...

Although her attitude towards all mamodo indeed was affected by what Zophise had done to her in the past, Koko still could not help but smile for her friend. Sherry was happy here with Brago, who wasn't a thing like Zophise. He didn't hurt Sherry like Zophise had done to Koko... He didn't force her to do unbearable things like Zophise... and the greatest thing of all, he didn't use her. This she could already tell.

Koko smiled for her friend. "I'm happy for you, Sherry. I really am."

* * *

_Teehee, i've downloaded the Japanese audio for episodes 42, 47, 48, and 51 of Konjiki no Gash Bell. Oooh i got to hear all their Japanese voices but i have no idea what the heck they're saying! X3  
o.O Zash's voices is SO high pitched... Kiyo's is deep... Suzys isn't as hyper-go-lucky-goofy sounding.. it's a lot softer... Sherry's almost sounds the same as it is in English, and Brago's... O.O his Jap. voice is WAY deeper than Kiyo's! I even got to hear Zeon's Jap. voice.. i like it a lot better than it is in English... 'cause it doesn't sound so much like Zatch's. It's completely different._

_Teehee... i'm getting really impatient. I want these episodes that i just talked about to air! GRAH! But i now have a clue as to what will happen in all the episodes. Muwahahaha! n.n_

_I've also been on YouTube dot com and have been listening to this one thing that's just Kiyo's Japanese voice actor singing. I've probably listened to that song about 7 times today already... Speaking of which i kinda wanna listen to it again. n.n Heehee... It's called 'Treasure Fighter', though i dunno if it's really related to Konjiki no Gash Bell or not._

_Anyway... uh... Read and review! Hopefully i can find that list of chapters i had... somebody better not have thrown 'em away.. -.-_


	14. Grasping the Thoughts

_(sghs happily) It's FRIDAY! And y'all know what tommorow means! n.n_

_Well... uh... anyway... Sorry for the long update? I kinda forgot about the story because i was distracted with my others... Heehee..._

_OK, i'm talking to myself as i type on the keyboard... interesting... OK... uh... read and review?_

_Disclaimer: This is something that i don't own and this situation is something i cannot be sued by because i'm putting a little something in here called a disclaimer. Don't'cha know? However, here's a little something to tell y'all: Fae, Noru, and Nokimo are mine. Although i do hate the last two... Isn't that something?_

_OK, shutting up now. n.n_

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**Chapter 14**

**Grasping the Thoughts**

Brago peeked around the corner, his red eyes focusing on Sherry, whom was still talking with Koko. The two had continued to chat for what seemed like hours now, although it was probably just one. The demon glanced at the clock. Actually, it was about an hour and thirty five minutes-- wait, make that thirty six, to be precise...

He smirked to himself. Sherry was so happy now that Koko was back. Brago had left the conversation a while ago considering the fact he was never exactly _friends_ with this human, but he respected the fact that Sherry was and silently left, undoubtedly unnoticed.

Fae was sitting in her mother's lap; her eyes were wide open and her crimson orbs focusing on all the different things around her. Once they even landed upon Brago as he quietly watched the others in the room, and she smiled before making gurgling noises and laughing, reaching out to the demon near the doorway with her tiny, pale arms. At this, Sherry would pause and look down at Fae, noticing that she was staring in Brago's direction; she would merely just smile and turn back to Koko and continue on with their conversation.

Brago sighed to himself before sauntering off to do something else, wondering at the same time how long it would take for this long conversation to end. At least Sherry was happy...

"So, you're doing well in college. That's good to hear," Sherry smiled and Koko laughed.

"Yeah, it's not the easiest thing in the world, but I manage." Koko laughed and then stopped talking as she stared down at Fae. The infant's red eyes wandered over to meet hers and she let a soft grin cross her lips. Noticing her actions, the blonde merely smiled and looked down at the child as well.

"Well... nothing much has happened here, other than the _wonderful_ stories I've already told you about with Noru," said Sherry. A solemn look suddenly overwhelmed her face as she remembered the rumors. Looking up, the blonde gave a questioning look as she asked, "Say Koko, have you heard those rumors on the news?"

The brunette stared at Sherry long and hard before she opened her mouth as if to say something, however, before she could though, there was a large crash as the window to the room shattered. Glass was sent flying everywhere and instinctively, Sherry shielded her daughter with her own body and Koko flung her hands up into the air over her face, protecting herself from the oncoming fragments of the window.

Hearing the crash, Brago darted to the room where the two women were in as fast as he could, and skidded to a halt as his eyes landed upon a familiar brown haired demon.

"Noru..." he hissed bitterly. "What the hell are you doing here!"

Brushing off some of the remaining glass off his sleeve, Noru stood up strait and smirked, seeing the perplexed look on everyone's faces. "Hmm, looks like I hit the jack pot," he said, grinning menacingly, "there's another human here for me to kill..."

Koko's eyes widened as the demon in front of her let out a low chuckle, his eyes locking with hers. Her hand trembled as she stared at his eyes. The blood red streaks going down his cheeks almost instantly reminded herself of Zophise. She stood up and backed away slowly, her head shaking slightly. And it wasn't just the red lines... the look of pure evil-- of pure hate... it was just like the looks _he_ had...

"Koko..." Sherry turned her gaze to her best friend whom hadn't heard her friend speaking. She was paralyzed with a distressed look on her face as she stared into the other's menacing orbs. "Koko!"

Hearing her name once more this time quickly snapped the woman out of her trance. She blinked before she quietly murmured, "S-So... Th-this is... Noru?"

Noru chuckled mirthlessly as he took a step forward. "I see that somebody's been spreading rumors about me," He smirked. "Guess that not all humans are complete, worthless idiots... Hell, even Richard was like this."

Brago growled and then quickly eyed Sherry before he said, "Get your filthy ass out of here NOW!"

"But Brago, I can't possibly go back to the Mamodo World without at _least_ a decent fight," sneered the demon. Sherry inched over to a cabinet and gently began to pull on a drawer with one of her hands, since the other was preoccupied with holding onto the infant hybrid whom was getting upset. This grabbed Noru's attention and he sensed what she was searching for. As quickly as he could, he jumped towards Sherry, aiming to strike her when suddenly he was pulled back by Brago, who hissed with irritation and threw him back against the wall.

"Dammit, leave my wife alone!" he said angrily as he charged for the demon across the room from him once more. The mamodo swung his leg into the air and it landed on top of Noru, but he ended up shielding himself with his hands in front of his face. He grabbed Brago's leg and swung him over to the ground, growling with even more frustration.

Quickly, Sherry pulled out the Black Book that was within the desk and Koko eyed it curiously. In the long conversation she previously had with her best friend, Sherry had informed her of how Brago's book was back, even though it was originally burned. Good thing Zatch Bell had created a new one...

"Koko," whispered Sherry, turning to her best friend. She looked behind her worriedly before continuing. "Can I entrust you with watching over Fae for me? I need to go help him..." said Sherry, eying the fight behind them.

Chocolate eyes wide, Koko stared, agape. What am I to do? she wondered as her hand slightly trembled… She knew that her best friend really did have to go help and didn't want her daughter in the way. Nodding her head, the woman slowly stammered out, "OK... I-- I'll do that." She took the baby girl, whose fussing died down a little, from Sherry and paid close attention to her next words.

"Go outside and find one of my limos," began the woman, Koko nodded her head, "tell one of the drivers to take you to the park just north of here, and he'll do just that. When we're done with the fight, we'll come and meet you there. OK?"

Koko nodded her head quickly before she received a grateful smile from the blonde.

"Thank you, Koko. That means a lot to me." And with that, Sherry turned around and ran outside, since the fight was now taking place there. Koko made her way around the mansion and found herself where the limos were and did what Sherry informed her to do. Meanwhile...

_"Giganoreis!"_

Gravity was violently pulled together in a large, heaping mass in Brago's palm and was soon shot out towards the psychic mamodo-- Noru ended up easily dodging the assault. The demon then ran back around and swung his fist right into Brago's face, but the darker being blocked that as well.

The two then began a rally of one-on-one attacks, each punching another with all their might or at least trying to anyway. Sherry watched with a sharp look in her eyes as she waited for the right moment. There was a keen look in her azure orbs as she intently noted Brago how took a step back after being hit. This was a good cue...

_"Rior Reis!"_

In Brago's palms there were two energies this time gathering and sent hurtling towards the opponent. Noru, never before seeing this attack, was taken by surprise and was thrown some feet away from his original standing point. He landed on the ground with an unpleasant shriek and rolled over a few times before he suddenly stopped and pushed himself up with shaky arms.

"Damn..." he muttered as he slowly stood back up, wiping a trickle of blood from his mouth leaving a red stain on his hand. He was off guard... Brago came charging towards him at full speed before he took another impact.

As the fight continued on, Brago began to thrust his arms intensely as fast as he could at the other, intending to hit him at least _once_. Luck was on his side. Noru managed to block the darker being's rampaging fists but was too slow, and, unfortunately for him, was hit again and soon this was followed by about ten more hits before Brago smashed him in the face hard enough to break a bone.

He sputtered out a rather rude curse before falling back down, panting hardly. The other demon brought his fists together and cracked a few knuckles before he asked, "Had enough?"

Noru chuckled before he shook his head, eyes narrowing, creating a rather fowl look on his face. "I'm not going to lose to _you_, Brago."

The other smirked and vigorously thrusted his knee into the other's stomach, sending him to the ground once more. "I've beaten you a total of three times now, I don't think you really stand a chance against _me_," snarled Brago as he stared down at the mamodo before him. "And if I'm not mistaken, I think you've gotten weaker."

There was a low growl emitted from Noru's lips as he turned to look up at the other, an unpleasant look clearly seen on his face. "Then maybe I just need reinforcements..." he said bitterly. "I know the perfect plan now, Brago. Thank you for pointing that out..."

"Huh?" the mamodo inquired as he blinked. His bemused expression soon vanished, being replaced by a scowl, and he snarled again before saying, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course I do, you just wouldn't understand..." Standing up and pressing his hand against his knee for support, Noru began his small explanation. "You see, I know your weakness Brago. It's that bitch over there," At this remark, he pointed a clawed finger in the direction of Sherry, who stood glaring at him, Black Book wrapped tightly in her arms. He turned his gaze back over to the one before him, who had an utterly disgusted look on his face. "I just need to get my plan in motion and I can take you down in no time." A series of low laughs followed, which began to irritate Brago further.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Brago as he swung his fist forward, aiming to put as much hurt on Noru as possible. However, before his clenched hand could come in contact with the other, he vanished, leaving an infuriated demon behind. "Damn it," cursed Brago as he glared around him. "Still didn't get him... Coward..."

Off in the distance, Sherry sighed before a pleased smile overwhelmed her features. She closed the Black Book, which had previously been glowing a bright purple color that soon vanished, and ran over to her husband.

When she reached there, she noted that Brago did have some scratches on his arms and face. There was a small stream of blood coming from a tiny cut on his arm, but she didn't fret about that-- it would heal pretty quickly. Azure orbs meeting crimson, Sherry sighed.

"Well... What do you think of all this, Brago?" inquired the blonde as the other folded his arms. She shifted the weight on her feet, waiting for an answer, but since Brago wasn't entirely answering her question, she continued. "I heard him mention reinforcements... Do you think he could come back with more demons to help?"

Still, no reply, so the woman gave an aggravated sigh, but after a minute there finally was one. In a deep, raspy voice, Brago turned his head back around to face the blonde and said, "I don't know, Sherry. But we need to be even more cautious than ever before. Be as it was when the war for king was going on, we need that determination if we're going to actually beat Noru without him running off like that again."

Nodding her head, Sherry agreed. "Alright..." She blinked as Brago tenderly brushed his ash colored hand against her face and gently pressed his lips against hers. She breathed deeply as a warm smile crept upon her lips after a minute when he stopped. Brago stared down at her with his crimson orbs and Sherry flushed.

"We're going to beat him," was all he said next. His wife nodded contently before speaking up herself as she brought the demon's book closer to her chest.

"I know... But right now we should really go get Fae and meet up with Koko," said the blonde. Brago gave a curious look as he turned to look down at her. "I sent her with Fae to the park while we fought Noru. I didn't want to risk the chance of him coming for them," explained Sherry, glancing to the ground.

"Alright,"

The other said nothing more as he nodded his head one last time and turned around and began to walk up the grassy hillside of the mansion, now redirecting his path towards where a spare limo was. Sherry followed alongside him, still holding onto her husband's book.

Both reached the limo and Sherry called for one of her drivers to take them to the park where Koko and Fae were at. They hopped in and soon were driven off to meet up with the brunette.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Stopping at a rather empty parking lot in a cheerful looking park, the driver of the limo didn't turn around to face neither Sherry nor Brago but merely stated in a clear voice, "We are here, ma'am, sir."

Nodding her head, the woman thanked her driver and soon quickly clambered out of the car, glancing across the park, Brago following afterwards. On a bench not too far off was Koko with Fae in her lap. She seemed to be talking to the child in a playful way and the infant had a broad smile upon her face. The limo that the brunette had taken was right in front of her, parked on the side of the road.

When the two parents walked up to her, Koko smiled and stood back up, handing Sherry her daughter back. "I just got here myself about a few minutes ago," she spoke, now glancing at Fae. "You're daughter is perfectly alright."

"Thank you, Koko, I really appreciate that." Sherry smiled before turning to glance at he husband quickly. He said nothing but nodded his head in agreement, adding onto the fact he was thankful as well.

Koko's happy look soon vanished and turned more serious, the tone in her voice lowering, "So... what happened anyway?"

"Noru ran off, _the coward_." This time it was not Sherry who had spoken, but the demon beside her. Koko turned to look up at him with an interested look before he continued. "We fought him for a few minutes, and after he realized he was loosing he disappeared, muttering about reinforcements." The mamodo folded his arms as a rather unpleased look crossed his features.

"Ah, I see." Koko nodded her head, taking in what he just said. "Do you think he's going to come back?"

"We're not too sure what's going to happen next," responded Sherry, tearing her gaze from her husband and redirecting it to Koko, "but we won't be surprised if he does come back. With reinforcements or not, we don't know yet, but he's probably going to show up sooner or later."

Nodding her head in reassurance, Koko gave a hopeful smile, "Well, I hope that the best comes for you two," she said. "Because like I constantly say, there's always light at the end of the darkness."

Her friend smiled and nodded her head, thanking the blonde for her kindness. Same old Koko, mused Sherry, always thinking positive when the going gets rough.

A few minutes more passed by and Sherry and Koko continued to talk just a little bit longer. When the sun started to sink below the horizon, the brunette turned to look where twilight was drawing near, and then redirected her attention to her best friend.

"Well, it's been great to see you again, Sherry," said Koko, bringing up what was on her mind, "but I'm afraid that I should get going. I have a lot of things I need to do tomorrow. You know, with college and everything? I managed to find a day where I wasn't so busy with other things and decided to come visit you."

A somewhat saddened look overwhelmed Sherry's face, but Koko placed her hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Don't worry, Sherry, I'll come back to visit you soon, I promise," she said warmly. "After all... we're best friends, right? Nothing can tear us apart!"

Sherry's smile widened when she nodded her head. She was beginning to feel teary eyed all of a sudden... "Yes, that's right Koko."

The chocolate eyed woman removed her hand from the perch of her friend's shoulder and continued to smile brightly. She didn't even stop when she turned and gave an illegible expression to Brago and soon turned away, taking a step back.

"Koko," said Sherry, and the other looked at her curiously, "If you need a ride, you can take the same limo you used to get here. My driver will take you wherever it is you need to go."

"Thank you, Sherry," Koko nodded her head again one last time before embracing her friend with one arm, since Fae was still in Sherry's arms. The infant cooed as she watched the older woman leave. "Bye!" she called, now opening the door to the vehicle before her. Sherry waved her hand back, Brago did nothing, and Fae giggled.

With one last wave of her hand, the brunette stepped into the car and gently closed the door behind her. Glancing out the window, she watched as her best friend smiled through the pane as the limo began to drive away.

"Good luck to you both," whispered Koko quietly to herself as the vehicle began to pick up speed. She turned around just for a moment to instruct the driver to take her to an apartment area before she went back to watching her friend. She's so happy with him, she mused as she thought about Sherry and Brago's relationship. And to think that I _loved_ Zophise... this relationship is the complete opposite of what mine was with him.

Her eyes lingered on their daughter, who now seemed to be rather small due to the distance increasing between them. They really do love each other, she thought as she then noticed the two end up in a warm embrace.

With a content sigh, Koko turned away and stared in front of her as she leaned her back against the comforting, cushioned seat of the vehicle. She knew that her friend would get through these troubled times no matter what situation came along...

_Because he would help her..._

* * *

_OK... i am utterly confused about something...Early this week on this Wednesday (2/22/06) i finally got 91 uncut episodes of KnGB... but i'm still so very confused about Zophise's gender... o.o My subtitles are kinda screwed from about episodes 1 to 50-something but gets better along the way, but for some odd reason they kept calling Zophise a "he" whenever he appeared for a bit...  
__Isn't Zophise supposed to be male only in the English version and a female in the Japanese? o.o But then there's the fact that on one of the episodes i was watching YESTERDAY they just so happened to FINALLY call him a girl...So i'm rather confused, but i know it's probably just the damn subtitles..._

_Dioga Gurabidon is cool..._

_Err... off track there, Twilight... I need to stop rambling like that..._

**Next chapter... **Possession  
When Brago takes a visit to the Mamodo World to go talk to the King leaving Sherry all by herself with Fae, he realizes just how _familiar_ Zatch's sick condition is... Almost as if he's seen it before... but where has he? Unexpected events spring up quickly and soon both Brago and Sherry find themselves in deep trouble.


	15. Possession

_(gasps) Oh, i am SO sorry everyone for not updating! I've just been so busy with school work, other stories, and other stuffs, and i had freakin' writer's block! >._

_Gr. So yeah, andto make up for my long, overdue update, i'm giving y'all a nice long chapter with a nice lil' cliffy at the end. BWUAHAHAHAHAHA! >.>_

_Erm... Ahem. Yeah, that's right. This'll just make y'all more happy, i'm sure. n.n Read and review as usual, people, and don't forget the constructive criticism if ya have any! XD_

_Disclaimer: Sadly i own nothing of this, but maybe that's a good thing 'cause Makoto Raiku's a genius for creating Konjiki no Gash Bell. I am merely a 13 almost 14 year old girl who wishes to be as good as him someday at drawing, along with other people,and is attempting to complete this lil' fanfic here because i have nothing else better to do than to write fan stories of his outstanding work. I only own Nokimo, Noru, and Fae, and sadly again, i don't even like those characters but they're just here for the story..._

_And now i'm rambling... -.-_

_Oh, and i apologize for any OOCnes that may occur in this chapter._

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 15**

**Possession**

Sherry was soundly sleeping in hers and Brago's bed while Brago stared out the window next to the bedside, leaning against the wall as he gazed out into the dark grounds of the mansion. It was probably sometime around midnight or one o'clock in the morning. He was thinking to himself, musing over what he had to do next. It had been bothering him for a while now, but he finally came to the decision that he had to discover the truth for himself. He had to go to the Makai and see it with his own eyes...

Turning his head, Brago stared fondly at his wife and sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was to leave Sherry there, with his daughter, completely vulnerable and unprotected. Sure, Sherry could defend herself on her own in certain situations, yes, but she was not as strong as he, if Noru or Nokimo took a surprise attack, what would she do and how long would she manage?

But he just had to find out, just had to! They could survive a few hours with him gone, couldn't they...?

However, the fact that Noru had been appearing on random occasions just looking for a fight did not make him feel comfortable in the slightest. Nor did the fact that Nokimo had also made some appearances as well...

His fists clenched together tightly as he thought of the black-green haired demon that always followed him around, continuously trying to get him to be _hers_. Especially when he... when he returned back to...

Shaking his head, Brago brushed off the thought. Now was _not_ the time to be thinking about _that..._ Couldn't she clearly see that he was with Sherry now? _His_ human?

With a low sigh, Brago turned around and walked over to the bedside where Sherry lay and stared down at the sleeping woman. He brushed a clawed finger across her cheek, watching her expression as it remained somewhat neutral, although it almost appeared as if it softened just a little more when he touched her face, her lips looked as if they were curving into a small smile... Brago thought about when he had returned to the demon world after his book was burned, and how during that time he thought about Sherry quite a bit and the time they spent together. And all the while he thought, he had somehow learned a few emotions... Funny how things like that could take effect on one, it was odd that he of all people learned how to feel, but it happened. Like when he cried for the first time...

For a good long while, he just stood there, thinking to himself quietly as he stared down at the sleeping blonde. She's so blissfully unaware of all what was going around her, Brago mused.

Glancing to the ground, Brago decided that he would sleep again that night. He removed his cape and belt and tossed them onto the floor before he crawled over Sherry to be next to her and slipped under the covers, turning around to face the woman. Draping his arm over her waist, he closed his eyes, trying to shut his mind down for some sleep...

Tomorrow he would think about it, he would think about it all tomorrow. Until then, however, he would wait. He had plenty of time. Besides, there was no need to rush... As for now, all he desired was to be with Sherry, to make up the time that he lost with her when his book was burnt. So with that, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, temporarily forgetting about what he had to do when he awoke.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Later on, when both Sherry and Brago were awake, they were in the kitchen, talking. Fae was sitting in a high chair, giggling as she watched her parents talk to another, even though she couldn't understand a word they were saying or how to speak. Either way, though, she still watched them, crimson eyes wide and alert. Sherry was next to her in a chair while Brago stood, leaning his arms against the kitchen table the family of three surrounded.

"I'm going to have to check out whether it's true or not," said Brago after telling Sherry that he was going to have to leave for the demon world. She looked up at him with curiosity.

"To find out whether what's true or not?"

He sighed. "To see if Zatch Bell is really sick or not. Remember how Nokimo said that he was becoming ill?" For a moment, Brago watched as Sherry contemplated to herself, forcing her mind to think. After a pause she nodded her head.

"But do you really believe what she said?" asked the blonde.

"I don't know what to believe," responded the demon as he shook his head. "But that's why I must go, I need to find out if it's true or not. Besides, I have to talk to him about something anyway... He hasn't arrived in the human world for a while and I'm becoming impatient."

"Can't you just wait a little longer?" questioned Sherry as she turned her gaze to look at Fae, giving her a small toy to play with. The infant swung the plastic key ring that was handed to her through the air, laughing all the while. Eventually she dropped it and Sherry picked it up again as her husband responded.

"No, I need to find out now. I don't know how sick he is, if he even is sick, and that could be the reason why he hasn't arrived in the human world for a while." With another sigh, Brago watched as his daughter played with the toy trinket that she kept dropping. When Sherry handed it to her once more, the child cooed and placed it in her mouth, still holding onto the plastic handle. A small smile lit up Brago's face but he quickly wiped it away as he returned his attention back to his wife. "I don't know how long it'll be till he arrives again. I have a feeling that something's not right..."

"Hmm," Sherry nodded her head. "How long do you think you'll be gone?"

"Only a couple of hours. Why?"

"Just wondering..."

The darker being watched as an illegible expression overwhelmed the blonde's face and he mused over what could possibly be wrong now. It then dawned on him and he sighed as he walked over to where she was and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I assure you that you and Fae will be safe, I don't think anything should happen while I'm gone, alright, Sherry?" The woman sighed as she nodded her head. Brago smirked. "I won't be gone long... I'll be back as soon as I can. But I should probably leave now, the sooner the better."

Sherry nodded her head as she stood up and stared at her husband, giving him a quick kiss before he began to walk away. "See you later, then..."

She watched as Brago walked out the door and closed it behind him. He never went back to his world often... In fact, he had only gone once before to check up on something a while back after the beginning events with Richard and Noru. It was a minor event, really, he had merely gone to check up with Zatch and confirm a few things about his stay with Sherry...

Sighing, Sherry turned to face Fae, whom was still chewing on the toy. The infant turned her crimson gaze that was identical to her father's to Sherry before she cooed again and dropped her trinket on the floor.

Sherry smiled before shaking her head. "All right, Fae, let's go get you some supplies. I believe you're out." The woman's response was a small giggle from her daughter and she laughed before preparing to leave for the store.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Two figures stood chatting about serious topics together when they froze. They stopped, almost as if listening for something, and then smirked.

"Phase one of the plan is complete," murmured one to another after a moment. "He's arrived, now let's go take our positions and do our jobs." With that, both disappeared.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Sherry stood, standing in the mall, planning to pick up some supplies for her daughter. She had just arrived and she had yet to pick out anything, Fae was sitting in a small cart that the store had provided and was giggling as the woman pushed her down the isles.

The blonde mused to herself some as she entered one of the isles and started to go through what she wanted. One of the things she enjoyed to do now was to shop on her own, in the past, it was her servants that would usually do that work, but now she took a joy in it herself. Ever since Jii passed away from old age a while back she had found a liking to shopping on her own, it had given her more things to do...

"Well, look who it is."

Stopping in her tracks, Sherry froze, eyes wide as she realized just whom that voice belonged to. Slowly she turned around and was greeted by none other than Nokimo herself.

The demon was standing there, her arm leaning against the wall, a vivid smirk plastered onto her face. Her pointed teeth could be seen quite well as she laughed devilishly.

Sherry stared; she did not at all like the situation she was in. With Brago gone, something bad would happen for sure.

Oh, no, Brago...

-o-o-o-o-o-

Meanwhile, in the demon world, Brago stood as he stared up at the looming castle above, the castle that belonged to his world's king, Zatch Bell.

"The castle that should have been _mine_," muttered Brago under his breath as he walked up to where the guards at the front gate stood. He informed one that he was there to see Zatch Bell and told them his name and his business. One nodded before they led him through the gates while another guard temporarily took his place.

As Brago walked through the king's castle, he sensed that something wasn't right. There was an odd aura to the building that seemed... familiar... yet he couldn't tell what it was. Ignoring his thoughts for the moment, the demon stopped as soon as he was in the throne room, but King Zatch Bell was nowhere in sight.

"Wait here," commanded the guard and Brago growled, not at all liking the fact that he was being bossed around. So for yet another minute he waited while the guard went to go fetch the missing king. Moments later he returned with the short, blonde ruler by his side, the guard stayed where he was as he kept an eye on the two demons. Brago's eyes widened at the sight of the blonde headed lightning warrior.

"You really are sick," he said quietly as he eyed Zatch oddly. "You really do look like hell, you know."

Indeed it was true, Zatch looked _horrible_. Brago watched as he rubbed his eyes gently and groaned before looking up at him with a dull look. Shadows were placed under his tired eyes, which had a rather unpleasant red hue to them. His hair was in tangles and was matted down on his head with strands of hair all over his face. There was also a sick, gloomy look to him that was hauntingly familiar…

The king clutched his head with his hand and tried to smile. "Hi, Brago. Long time no see, huh?" Suddenly he clutched his hand tighter as a tinge of pain shot through his head and he grumbled.

"I take it this is why you haven't appeared in the human world," said Brago flatly as he continued to eye the king. There was something very familiar about his sickness... It was almost as if he had seen it before... but where? He couldn't place his finger on it...

"Yeah," answered Zatch tiredly. "I've been trying to sleep some, but that hasn't really helped. I haven't felt this sick in such a long time, I almost forgot what it was like, ha, ha!" His attempt to make the mood of the situation more lighthearted did not work, Brago scowled.

"Hn, how can you let yourself get sick like this though?" he inquired stiffly. "You should prevent that, we don't need a weak king."

"Watch it, or I'll have you thrown out!" spat the guard that was next to them, he growled as he raised his hands. Zatch halted him as he raised his own weak arm, but he let it drop back down and he shook his blonde head.

"No, it's alright, let him talk," he said quietly and averted his attention back to the dark demon next to him. "It's true I'm sick, but it came so suddenly that there were no signs of it. I can't tell what I have either, what the disease is or sickness or whatever it may be, it's unknown. The symptoms I have don't match any from any known diseases here in this world."

Brago raised his brow. "You just sounded somewhat intelligent there, you know that, right?"

Zatch laughed before he coughed. "Those are the exact words I was told by one of the medics here, ha, ha, ha!"

Again, the frown returned to Brago's features and he crossed his arms. "Not funny," he muttered solemnly. Zatch shrugged and sighed before the other decided to continue the conversation to what was really bothering him.

"Well, I came here to tell you," began Brago as he stared at the king firmly, "that you haven't done anything about the occurrences with Noru. I'm getting irritated very quickly, Zatch, and am gettingtired of waiting. I want to know what the hell you've been up to lately, Noru has recently attacked my family again and I want answers! _When_ are you going to figure out what is going on?"

With a weak smile, Zatch Bell shrugged before he groaned again in pain and sighed. "I still haven't figured it out," he said, "I've been trying to, really, I have, Brago, but nothing seems to make sense anymore. I--"

"_You_ don't make sense anymore!" spat Brago angrily as he clenched his fists. "I despise how you've procrastinated so much lately, my family is in danger, and damn it, I want to know why!"

"Brago..." groaned Zatch as he tried to reason with the infuriated demon before him, but no use.

"The Zatch Bell _I _know would have solved this problem a long time ago," continued Brago, "He would have found the source to this issue and figured out how to stop it, and he would have done just that! Why haven't you done this already?"

With a heavy sigh, the king shook his head before he grumbled something to himself. He turned his pale, amber eyes to the darker demon's crimson and muttered, "I'm trying to... solve it... I just... can't... It's... too... hard..."

He began to hold onto his stomach tightly and groaned before he turned pale, he groaned as he crouched on the floor and Brago took a step back before he called out to him, but no response.

"King Zatch?" questioned the guard, but the other shook his head in protest, murmuring how he was alright and did not need any help.

"Brago..." he began after a moment and the other stared, "I..." Suddenly he gagged and threw up, Brago jumped back a few feet and watched as the king before him quivered slightly. "Just... get out of here for now... I can figure it out," breathed Zatch as he groaned in pain again. The guard before him knelt down and helped him up before instructing him to calm down. He then led him off someplace else.

Staring behind where the two had previously been, Brago mused to himself a little more. There was something familiar about Zatch's behavior... and his sickness... but... what was it?

With a shrug, the demon walked out of the throne room and headed back out the castle and onto the grounds where the front gate was. The two guards were gone; he wondered where they went. Usually someone was always on patrol duty out here... In fact, there wasn't a single demon around--

Suddenly Brago was tackled and forced to the ground. He roared as he was pushed down, two arms suddenly wrapped around his own and someone hissed in his ear, "Now there's no escape for you..."

-o-o-o-o-o-

Sherry stared at the demon before her, her eyes wide. She took a step back, pulling the cart that Fae was sitting in, and gaped at the scene before her.

"Surprised?" questioned Nokimo with a menacing laugh before she stood up strait and glanced around the room. "I just thought I'd come in... You know, see how everything's going?" Nokimo averted her attention to the scene before her: A few feet away stood Sherry with Fae close at hand as she inched away from the other in front of her. The woman reached out for her daughter and picked her up when she noticed the demon eyeing her.

"What're you doing here?" hissed Sherry angrily, grasping onto her daughter tightly, whom was making small noises showing her discomfort. With a laugh, Nokimo shook her black-green head and stared at the blonde before her with an odd look in her eyes.

"I told you already, just passing along, seeing how things are..."

"What's your _real_ reason?" said Sherry angrily. She looked around the room and noticed that she and Nokimo were the only ones around... In fact, the cash registers were even empty, or at least one was, the woman could not see all of them from where she stood, only one or two... Not a person in sight other than Nokimo.

Not good.

"My real reason?" echoed the demon with a gasp. "Oh, my _real_ reason! Ha, ha, ha! Silly human, how could you not realize it?" Taking a quick step forward, Nokimo put on a sinister expression as she bared her teeth in a cocky smile. "I just thought I'd have a... woman's talk, how does that sound?"

Not too good, thought Sherry as she took a step back, holding onto her daughter tightly while doing so. "I think I'll pass," she said sternly as her azure eyes narrowed, Nokimo only chuckled.

"I thought you'd say that," she said quietly, observing the back of her pale hand, but soon redirected her attention back to the woman in front of her. "But I don't think you have a choice in the matter, now do you?"

Sherry was silent as she watched the other strode up to where some of the supplies were on the shelf, and picked up a box before throwing it to the side. "Stupid things, why you humans need this crap I'll never know, oh, wait, it's for the little tyke, isn't it?"

Nokimo turned around to face the human and hybrid before her and her eyes landed upon the infant and her expression softened, if not turned to a look of jealousy. She sighed before cracking her knuckles, small popping sounds were emitted and she glared at Sherry.

"Look, bitch," she said angrily, pointing to Fae, "That child you hold in your hands shouldn't belong to _you_, it should belong to _me_! It should have been Brago's and mine! That should have been _our_ child!"

"Well, she's not," said Sherry, trying to keep her temper down. Anger was quickly rising inside her and there was nothing to stop it. "Why don't you leave Fae out of this, she has nothing to do with your... _issues_."

"My issues?" said Nokimo and she glared harshly before continuing, the pitch in her voice slightly rising as she spoke. "My _issue_ is that my one true love has crossed with a friggin' human! How do you think I feel about that? I've known him all my life and he's been the most gorgeous thing... I've known him longer than you have and yet he still wouldn't come to me!"

Sherry glared right back but said nothing. There was not much she could say before the demon with the temper continued and began to kick the side of the wall.

"Brago was mine! He was the only one meant for me, not some human, and let me tell you this, I always get what I want!" spat Nokimo angrily as she kicked the side of the wall, leaving a small dent where her foot had come in contact with the surface. After repeating this process a few times more over and over again until there was only a hole left, she turned back around and continued. "How would you feel if somebody stole someone special from you when you really cared about them? How would you, HUMAN?"

It was with this comment that Sherry snarled, "I do know how it feels to lose someone special," And backed away a little more. "You just don't know the extent of feelings I had for this special person, she was taken from me, possessed by an evil demon!"

"Well, if I hadn't known better," said Nokimo as she started to walk towards Sherry threateningly, "I would have thought you were some type of demon, but you're just a measly human!"

The blonde spat back: "But however you look at me it doesn't really matter. Brago came for me first, not you!"

As soon as those words were spoken Nokimo let out an angry howl and jumped towards Sherry, aiming to strike her. The blonde, still holding onto Fae, kicked the side of the cart and thrust it forwards; Nokimo, whom was blindly charging at her, ran right into it and was delayed for only a second more.

Taking this chance to try and escape, Sherry ran around and headed towards the exit, but was suddenly stopped as her hair was being pulled back, she shrieked in pain as Nokimo threw her in the opposite direction and she landed onto her side and let out a painful gasp. Fae began to cry as the blonde began to sit up, struggling to hold onto her daughter at the same time while she made a recovery, and glared at the demon before her.

Nokimo cackled viciously as she cracked her knuckles together, glowering down at the woman lying on the ground. "And here you suffer," she murmured as a wicked smile took place on her lips.

Holding onto Fae tightly, Sherry found that she couldn't get up in time. She forced her body to try and sit up, but Nokimo was stepping on her dress and she couldn't move very well, unless she wished to inch up closer to the demon and then get up, for that would be the only realistic way to get out of this mess. Sadly that would be a very bad option, and so Sherry merely lay there on the ground with her wailing daughter in her arms, staring up into the green eyes of the angry female demon before her.

"Heh, heh, it wasn't nice knowing you," said Nokimo as she raised her foot, preparing to kick her, but as she propelled her foot forward, she stopped as she suddenly froze, almost as if listening to something. For a moment there was a quiet, suspenseful pause, and everyone was silent, all except for the hybrid infant. Nokimo's expression soon changed from alert to pleased as she then lowered her foot and stared down at the woman before her. "You've been spared again, human," she said in an almost displeased voice, but that soon changed. "Some events have finally sprung up and I no longer need to kill you... yet. Heh, heh, heh... This will be so much more fun to watch, seeing you suffer all alone and afraid with no one there to comfort you..."

And with that, Nokimo began to cackle as she disappeared from view, Sherry stayed where she was on the floor, staring at the spot where the demon had seconds ago been. She blinked and sat up only to find that she was shaking, the woman held onto her daughter tightly and tried to calm her down as she continued to cry. The woman was pale and anxious as she turned her head around, only to see that she was still the only one in the store.

"I should probably get back home," whispered Sherry quietly to herself as she slowly sat up, glancing around the room still. "I can always shop later... As for now... Something's not right."

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_Muwaha... Cliffy. XD_

**Next Chapter...** Six Years Ago...  
Brago has a flashback to the times when he was sent back to the demon world when his book was burned...


	16. Six Years Ago…

_Meep. Writer's block is evil. I have a very bad case of it for this story. >. I have only 2 chapters left that i have already made plans for, but they're not written, so i should really start planning ahead again. (sigh) And... (does a dance) Yeah! FFnet fixed the problem with uploading documents. Am happy now. And then school finally ended for me Friday too... (hey, i do like year round, believe it or not. No, i'm not a nerd. I just like the constant breaks i get throughout the year n.n)_

_I think this story is going downhill... :'-(_

_Erm... Yeah... Read and review, oh, and i would recommend remembering some things from Come Back To Me to understand a couple things in this chapter. 'Tis a sequel, y'know..._

_Disclaimer: This story isn't mine. Only Fae, Noru, and Nokimo are mine, and i don't even like them..._

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**Chapter 16**

**Six Years Ago…**

"_I can give you happiness."_

"_You'll be alright with me."_

_"Mmn… Don't stop… Keep going…"_

"_Where are you going, Brago?"_

"_You'd rather be with _her_, wouldn't you…?"_

Crimson eyes glared upon green and a figure snarled upon a kiss planted on the cheek. There was a lighthearted giggle and Brago glowered even deeper upon the figures of Nokimo and Noru, standing right before him.

He was bound with a spell that controlled his mind, Brago was. Immediately after he left King Zatch's castle, he had been captured by some demons he had never seen before and Noru appeared promptly after that, only to place a spell upon his mind to keep him controlled, completely and utterly tamed.

"Bastard…" spat Brago lowly as Noru snickered, walking up to him with a mischievous expression. The demon watched with amusement as Nokimo wrapped her arms around the darker being's neck, more growls following afterwards.

"Thank you, Brother, you've been so kind to me!" said Nokimo with a large smile on her face as she cuddled up next to the infuriated demon next to her that was giving death glares, all of which went unnoticed. She giggled and said, "He's so cute when he's angry."

Brago glowered even deeper and snarled, "Brother? I should have known you two were working together, damn it… Never thought you were related though."

Noru chuckled lowly. "It's true, she is my half sister. We shared the same mother but she died many years ago. Our fathers were unknown, they just left her after their own fun and we were on our own. Not that it matters, we liked it that way." He turned to look upon the dark demon before him and he smirked. "But then little Nokimo here discovered you and was set for life to try and make you hers. Pity, I think she has a bad taste."

"Watch it," snapped the said demon as she glared at the other. He merely chuckled in response while Brago growled even further.

"Oh, well, I guess I'll have to get used to it," said Noru with a shrug as he sighed. Brago glared even deeper, his crimson orbs becoming near red slits.

The demon glanced around the room he was in. He had been brought to an old building that had been abandoned somewhere within the Makai after he was captured, there were a couple of other demons he had never seen before walking by in the old room. It was unfortunate for him that he had been sent back to his world so many years ago when the war for the throne was still going on, otherwise he could have become more powerful and could have possibly prevented this fiasco. Noru had done something to his mind to make him vulnerable and unable to move very well. It was too strong, not to mention painful to resist.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you can't do very much, nonetheless move," said Noru after a minute upon seeing Brago's pissed off expression. He chuckled even deeper when there was a pregnant pause. "Remember two years ago when Richard was my human partner and how I controlled that old pathetic human wife of yours? Shelly, was it?"

"_Sherry_," hissed Brago defensively and he snarled, "And yes, I do remember. Your point?"

"Well," Noru snickered, "I was never able to gain this one spell with Richard while in the human world, even after many years. But when I came back I was able to use it again… It's a spell similar to my Psykino attack, where I can control people's minds and easily persuade them to do things that I want them to. That spell made the victim of it sick after a while, but this one doesn't, even if it's a powered up version of the spell. All it does is wear me out quicker. Unfortunately, that means I get tired easier and essentially weaker. However, it has its advantages, as you can clearly tell because you're not moving very much, now are you?"

Brago stared, his blood boiling. How _dare_ he control him! But then something registered that didn't make sense, so he asked, "Wait a minute… You haven't been controlling me until earlier today and yet I noticed you becoming immensely weaker in previous fights! What the hell is up with that?"

Nokimo watched as Noru sat down on an old box with a pleased smirk on his face. "Well… true, but I've been having issues controlling someone else here lately. He's been a big hassle that he has. Heh, heh, oh, well."

Giving glares of death, Brago growled yet again when Nokimo continued to stay curled up against him, murmuring different things happily to herself.

"As long as Brother gave me you, that's all that matters to me," purred Nokimo as she rubbed the side of her face against the darker demon's; he merely glared even deeper. "When he was sent back two years ago after being beaten by you and that bitch, we made a deal."

"What kind of deal?" spat Brago.

She blinked before giggling. "Oh, that's so simple! Why are you even asking this? Since Noru already knew where you were and I wanted you so badly, we made a deal. He would kill that pathetic human and your even worse hybrid for revenge, leaving you all open for me!" Nokimo's smile deepened. "He was planning on controlling you there as well, but since you decided to come here, why not use his powers on you when you arrived? It was so simple!" Her grin then slightly decreased as she glanced to the side, only to look at him back in the eye again. "I was so angry with you when you left me six years ago, Brago! I desired my revenge and I still do!"

"And you think I'm just going to let you have your way?" hissed Brago, his crimson orbs now at the brink of disappearing. He turned to look at Nokimo who nodded enthusiastically and up to her known half brother who then smirked.

"Oh, come on, Braggy-poo, you let me have my way once before," murmured Nokimo affectionately as she traced a circle on his shoulder with her finger. "Why not let me have it again?"

Upon hearing his, the darker being closed his eyes tightly, all too well remembering the incidents she was referring to…

"_Come on, just a little longer," breathed Nokimo as she kissed the darker demon on the lips. He merely stared at the ground silently, somewhat ignoring her words. She frowned before crawling to his lap to stare at him. "Forget about it, will you? It's all over with."_

_He was silent still before he sighed. "Fine… You win…" And he pushed her to her side and feverishly kissed her before moving on…_

"So why is this bad thing, Brago?" cooed Nokimo as she grinned devilishly. "We have had our fun before… Why not have it again?"

"I wasn't thinking strait, damn it!" snapped Brago angrily. He tried to force himself to move but his body wouldn't let him, an evil chuckle entered his mind immediately afterwards.

_No way you'll be moving, Brago. This is the effect of the spell._

With that done, the crimson-eyed demon glared up at Noru with the worst scowl he could come up with. Noru grinned.

"You see, Brago, if you don't do what Nokimo desires, then I'll just have to go to the human world and kill your precious human and daughter." The other's eyes widened as he continued. "As you already know, we've discovered a way into the human world, and we can most certainly go whenever we want to. Not only that, but we've also just recently found a way to use our powers there without the books. So I can easily go there and kill them anytime I please. In fact, I could go right now…"

"NO!" shouted Brago angrily and he managed to move just an inch. Nokimo stared while her brother merely chuckled, he watched as Brago's brow deepened into an even darker frown, trying to fight off the pain within his head that was caused by the spell.

"Ah, well, if I did then that would ruin all the fun in seeing the both of you suffer," said Noru as he walked over to the side to where a door was. "I believe that certain torture even surpasses the thrill of watching others die, wouldn't you agree, Nokimo?"

"Mmhmm!" said the other as she giggled again, her arms still latched around Brago's neck. She turned to look at the one before her and she smiled. "Come on, Brago, you don't have much of a choice in the matter. Brother is much stronger than you are and I don't think you want to lose that wench down in the human world and that thing she always carries around, now do you?"

"Her name's _Sherry_ and that's our _daughter_," hissed Brago lowly and the other only giggled again.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're still so cute when you're mad though, heehee!"

Smirking, Noru opened the door in front of him and said, "I think I'll leave you two alone for a little while. Have fun." And with that, he closed the door with a slam, leaving a grinning Nokimo and a controlled Brago alone in the room. Nokimo smiled before grasping his hand and forcing him to stand.

"I think we should go into the other room, now shall we?"

Unwillingly, Brago started to walk forward, following the pesky nuisance that was clutching onto his hand. He stared at the back of her head while in vain trying to free himself from the control of Noru's powers.

Damn it, he thought to himself, should have remembered about his psychic abilities…

"_I can give you happiness," said a shadowed Nokimo as she held out her hand to the depressed Brago. "You'll be alright with me."_

And he had been so vulnerable back then, the weakest ever in his life! The tragedy of leaving Sherry affected him so much to the point where he didn't even know who he was anymore, constantly thinking about her and wondering if she was all right and how she was doing. Always wishing to hold her in his arms like he had done the day he left… To just see her face again was all he wanted.

Unfortunate for him that his book was burned and he left her for four years. And in that time for the second year he had accepted Nokimo's promise, merely because he was so tired of waiting. So tired of nothing.

He was just itching to do something and she had released him from his mental prison, at least for a short period of time. Only when he realized what he had done and left her embrace, only to be left alone again. He was so angry with himself for doing what he had done, crossing with that evil thing holding his hand… Hadn't he sworn to himself that the only one who would be his was Sherry? Then what had he been doing with that _thing_? Fulfilling _her_ desire!

"_Mmn… Don't stop… Keep going…" Nokimo slowly opened her eyes to stare at the darker demon before her when he slowly began to stop grazing the side of her neck and he glanced to the side._

_Brago sat up from where he lay and stared at his hands for a while, only realizing what he had been doing for such a long period of time when he felt the moisture in his grasp from his previous actions. Nokimo stared up at him with curiosity as he shook his head._

"_This isn't right," he murmured and stood up. "I shouldn't even be here…"_

_The other stared at him with wide, green eyes as he began to gather his clothing. "Where are you going, Brago?" She sat up with a pleading look in her eyes only when the realization dawned on her. "You'd rather be with _her_, wouldn't you?"_

"_It's not right," he murmured. "She was mine… She is mine… Damn it…" He turned to look at Nokimo but said nothing, only angry with himself and her for what he had done, so with that he walked away from her presence, leaving her speechless._

And after that, he had resided to hiding in alleyways where he thought that Nokimo wouldn't find him, and that she didn't. Instead, King Zatch Bell was the one who discovered him and maybe a few other bystanders that would immediately run away upon seeing his presence.

However, the memories of the past haunted him and he completely regretted doing what he had done. So, when he first saw Sherry again in four years, of course he felt a great sense of relief. Although even then he wasn't too certain of what to feel, merely because that bastard Richard was in his way.

And how he craved to hold her in his arms and never let her go, to tell her what he felt, to listen to her stories of the past years, to just be in her presence, alone with her. When Richard and Sherry had kissed… He had never felt as confused in his life aside from his moments with Nokimo…

Brago stared at the door that Nokimo led him to and gritted his teeth in fury. And how he was being manipulated _here_! Being forced to be with this thing, merely because he was under a mind control and the fear of Sherry and Fae's safety. Sure, he as able to speak on his own free will, but everything else, he had no control of.

Sherry, he thought as Nokimo led him into an empty room, smirking. I'm sorry.

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_Uh... Yeah... Well, there's that chapter over with, now i gotta figure out what to do with the future chapters. I have somewhat of an ending planned out but i gotta figure out how to GET to there... Hmph._

_Oh, and sorry if there seemed to be a lot of OOCness with Brago in this chapter (more like every chapter in this story xD), but consider the fact that i've had him go through some serious changes since Goodbye, so of course he's going to feel some more emotion. I mean, he does have a family..._

_Well, i'm going to go hide, considering a lot of you are going to hate me for this chapter... o.o_

**Next Chapter... **A Loss of Hope  
Sherry is depressed, Brago is controlled, what is to happen when the two have a confrontation?


	17. A Loss of Hope

_Ah... over 3 months... that's a record. I'm very terribly sorry for this late update, but as you all should know by now, i have a huge case of writer's block with this. I finally decided a couple of days ago that i should really at least work on a chapter for this so i can have some updates every so often, but i must confess._

_I don't have a lot of ideas later on, believe it or not. In reality... i have an idea, yet i don't know how to make it happen, somewhat like that. **So if anyone is willing to share ideas, PLEASE leave them in a review or PM me!** I would be SO incredibly **GRATEFUL**! You'll even get some **credit** for some parts of the story! I am just out of ideas and i **seriously** need help. T-T_

_Yeah... there's my story. And i'm stuck. I only have about 2 chapters planned out after this (in order) and i need to do something about that. I have kind of an ending planned but you know how it is. T-T_

_Meh, so in all, please enjoy this chapter. I'm sorry if there are any mistakes but i really wasn't in the mood to look over it. I don't think there are any, but you never know..._

_RnR. Reviews are also appreciated. :)_

_Disclaimer: This is not mine, but this story is (unfortunately...? Meh, just get rid of the writer's block n' i'll be happy again. T-T). Fae, Noru, and Nokimo are also mine, but i don't really care 'bout them. x3_

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**Chapter 17**

**A Loss of Hope**

One week.

Sherry stared at her moist palms that glistened with sweat and she trembled, tightly closing her eyes as she forced the painful heartache away even more, grasping her shoulders as she hugged herself.

_What… what had happened? Why hadn't Brago returned home?_

The woman turned her watery azure eyes to her sleeping child in the crib, watching as the little one's chest slowly rose and fell. Oh, how Fae had been growing… It seemed as though it were yesterday when she had finally been born; Brago had been there to comfort her through the painful experience, but in the end… her little gift was born, and she hadn't felt happier since.

So why was she feeling so pained now? Brago had yet to return home in a week, it had been a long, miserable seven-day time span since his venture to the Makai…

Clearing her mind, the woman rubbed her tired eyes, recalling back to the day and his exact words as she inquired him about his quick trip to his home world, something they both weren't so keen on…

"_How long do you think you'll be gone?"_

"_Only a couple of hours. Why?"_

"_Just wondering…"_

Glancing to the side, the woman noticed that it had just turned afternoon, the longhand of the great grandfather clock within the room struck the 12, and a soft yet loud droning noise was heard soon afterwards; _dong, dong, dong…_

Her attention was redirected to her daughter. Fae had slightly woken but remained silent as her deep crimson eyes slowly scanned the room, looking for someone familiar to lay her gaze upon and perhaps coo at to try and acquire some well-wanted attention. When the two eyes of the mother and child met, the little infant giggled as she reached her hands out to the blonde in a longing sort of way.

A soft smile flickered upon Sherry's lips as she remained where she sat upon the couch, her legs pulled up to her chest as she then reached her hand out to the edge of the crib where the see-through cloth was draped over the edges. She placed the tip of her fingers where Fae's small hand was gently pushing the edge of the fabric and their hands indirectly touched.

However, after a moment, the woman's hand began to drag down as it landed to her side once more while Fae's attention was drawn to something else, namely her own thumb, which was soon placed inside her mouth.

Oh, how she looked so much like him too, mused Sherry sadly, burying her face in her knees, staining her white dress with yet more tears. If only she could go to the mamodo world or wherever Brago was so she could see him again…

And yet she couldn't… there was no way for her to, only Brago and the other demons knew the way there and how to travel back. So what about her? She was just some human who didn't have a clue… just some human who longed to see her missing husband again. Why oh why didn't he come back home that day…?

If only there was a chance that she could do _something_…

_Ding._

Sherry's eyes suddenly widened as the doorbell abruptly rang, the sound echoing through her ears.

_Ding._

Her heart began to pound a little faster on the inside of her chest and the blonde sat up, staring at the pathway to the door. The bell rang again and she immediately stood up, her mouth slightly agape. That… that _had_ to be Brago!

So as quickly as she could, the woman darted out of the room towards the front door, leaving a curious Fae behind as she sucked on her thumb still. Turning the corner, Sherry almost stumbled upon the elaborate carpet that was placed on the wooden floor at the front and she fumbled about to get the door open as quickly as she could. _Let it be him, let it be him!_

When the door was flung open, Sherry's heart skipped a beat for a quick second as her azure eyes landed upon none other than her husband's crimson gaze. A wide smile spread across her features but then she noticed something was off, Brago wasn't doing anything. He was acting so… quiet. Then she suddenly went pale as two figures stepped out from behind the darker demon and her expression became quite illegible.

"Ah, hello, Sherry, so nice to see you," snickered Noru harshly as he walked from behind Brago, turning his hateful eyes upon Sherry's confused ones. To Brago's right stepped Nokimo and the blonde's expression pulled into a confused frown upon seeing the female demon.

Mouth agape, Sherry stammered somewhat as she tried to put together all her words at once at the sudden and unexpected event. "W-what are you two doing here? Brago?" Her heart felt more confused and fearful when she realized Brago had yet to say a word, nonetheless come to her when she opened the door. Then, at that moment, Sherry's expression hardened. "What's going on here??"

"Well, we decided to come and visit you," said Nokimo spitefully with a twisted grin as she smirked slightly, tilting her head to the side as she then latched herself onto Brago's arm; the blonde's eyes widened even more at this.

"Visit…? B-but—"

"You see, Brago doesn't want to be with you anymore, he's finally chosen me over you," said Nokimo with a pleased smile on her face as she nuzzled her cheek onto Brago's arm. For a split second, Sherry saw a glimpse of pure hatred and annoyance flicker across Brago's expression within the corner of her eye, but it was gone as soon as it came and she couldn't quite tell what this meant.

"Yes, it's quite true indeed!" continued Nokimo as she grinned even wider. "Braggy-poo is mine now, you little wench!" Again, there was a stiff pause, and Sherry felt an uncomfortable tension surrounding… Brago? Yes, it had to be, this wasn't true! She didn't believe it anyway!

"You're lying," hissed the woman angrily as she clenched her fists tightly together, almost bringing blood. "Brago would… he would never! Brago, tell me that's a lie!"

The nonchalant demon turned his crimson orbs to look at Sherry. _If only_, he thought to himself, _if only… I can't say…I won't say! I am not apart of this damned game!_

_If you don't say,_ returned the voice, obviously Noru's, _then your wife and child are as good as dead. I can easily kill them right here and now. Say it. Now._

The demon's brow furrowed down into a harsh frown, he couldn't bear to… he couldn't look at her. He quickly turned his head away, trying to find the right words to say…

"Brago? It's a lie, right?"

"Ye… N… N-no, it's not," he muttered, Sherry's eyes widened even more, her heart almost stopping. "It's not a lie… It's the truth."

Damn it, hissed Brago in his mind. Damn it, Noru, you bastard! If only this freaking spell weren't so strong!

_Told you so._

Sherry took as step back, her mouth agape in horror. She merely stood there for a silent moment, contemplating what had just happened in her mind, repeating it over and over again to make sure she hadn't missed anything, any special clue to help…

…And yet she realized there was no clue, at least none she could directly find.

Brago… had left her…?

A shrill laughter filled the air and the blonde redirected her gaze to Nokimo, who was giggling as if she had been to the best comedy show in the world. She was laughing so hard that tears were forming in the corner of her eyes, and Sherry froze.

"I'm not that sorry to disappoint you, but we came all this way from the Makai _just_ to tell you that!" The cruel demon giggled lightheartedly and yet maliciously as she rubbed her cheek against Brago's arm a little more now while Sherry stood there in horrific terror at the meaning of this.

"N-no… a lie, it's a lie!" spoke Sherry out loud, more so to herself now. She shot a nasty and confused look at both Nokimo and Noru as she continued to go on. "It's a lie! Tell me that was a lie! I don't believe it, I can't—I won't—never!"

"Too bad. Come on, let's go," said Noru in a short yet pleased tone as he turned around and began to disappear. Sherry watched in terror as Nokimo spun around as well, almost taking Brago down as he stumbled upon his feet somewhat. Sherry watched as they all slowly began to vanish, most likely traveling back to their home world; the woman reached out a pleading hand in silent protest.

And then it happened: Right before they left, Brago quickly managed to turn his head around just somewhat so the other two would not notice as he mouthed two words that sent Sherry's heart beating quicker than ever.

_I'm sorry._

With that, he was gone.

The woman stood there as she listened to her heart rapidly pound within her ears while everything else remained silent. She couldn't hear the cooing of her daughter in the background, the birds chirping, the wind blowing, nothing. All went silent and numb as she fell to her knees, tears finally beginning to well up and fall down her flustered cheeks.

He… he was being controlled. He had no choice, she realized. Noru… was telepathic. He was psychic—that damned demon could manipulate one's actions and easily persuade one to do something against her will.

_Just as he had done to her a few years ago…_

Just as he had… Sherry's sapphire eyes widened even more now upon the realization of what had been happening. She knew now what was going on in her husband's world; that day he left to talk to the king, he had without a doubt been captured and put under Noru's control. So how was she never alerted of this?

Zatch…

A small gasp slipped past her lips as she realized the truth. Turning to look up where Brago had minutes ago stood, she reached out a hand and tenderly touched the spot where he had previously stood. As she stared at her pale hands she realized she was trembling, hard. Soon a painful flow of tears began to follow as the woman sobbed, drawing back her hand to her side as she hugged herself tightly.

He was gone and the king knew it, there was nothing she could do about it. Her world was falling apart, with Brago being captured and mind controlled and having to endure who knows what with that horrid demon girl.

Not only that… the demon world was in trouble as well.

All hope, it seemed, for everyone, especially her and Brago, was lost.

For now.

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**Next chapter...** Words from a King  
Sherry is more so depressed due to the horrid news of Brago, but she recieves a visit from an unexpected person bearing good news... 


	18. Words from a King

_owo... Is it the end of the world? Have i REALLY updated?... Wow. o.O_

_But... HA. HAHA. FINALLY i begin to think of how to end this, AND LO AND BEHOLD, i have two more chapters after this planned. IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?!...I think it is!_

_Ah, must make an announcement. Thank you SO much, **Sarah303**, for being the only one to respond to my pleas for ideas. xD And to anyone else i may have forgotten that sent me a PM about it, i thank you too, but i'm too lazy to search through my long list of messages from FFnet to actually see who helped (.-. I haven't updated this in about two months, i get a lot of emails in a month time span alone.). So in case i've forgotten, thank you. But Sarah, you made my day by actually suggesting something, so thank you. ;-;_

_So, yeah, kind of a short chapter, but give me a break. -3- Seriously. (no, i don't want a kit kat!...Although i would like some more Flower's Kiss Candy as i'm almost out... xD)_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing of Konjiki no Gash Bell so shush and enjoy this pathetic excuse of a fanfic._

_NOTE: Oh, by the way, i'm so tired of referring to everyone by their English names in this story. I'm leaving the previous chapters alone, but for now on, they'll all be called by their original names. ;D Deal with it, nyeheh. :3 And because i ALWAYS refer to them by their Japanese names now anyway, i'd have probably messed up and typed one in, so this is safer. e.e;_

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**Chapter 18**

**Words from a King**

Sherry smiled sadly as she stared out into her yard, her daughter in her lap. Beyond the sweeping landscape was the nearest town, where she had met Richard so many years ago. Her eyes slightly narrowed at the thought of the man who tricked her into 'loving' him, and not Brago, whom had just returned from the Makai after 4 years. But that was so long ago… all of that was over now…

Somewhat.

In truth, it all started when Brago's book burned that one day… it was _that_ particular moment when everything began to change. Sherry knew that if his book hadn't been destroyed then he could have stayed with her longer and become much stronger, possibly even the _king_ of his world. Then she wouldn't have had to have stayed in the human world and could have gone with him to his home. Richard would have never gone after her nor would he have used Noru, and then none of this would have happened. Everything would have been just fine…

The woman glanced down at her daughter, who looked back up at her and giggled, reaching up to try and grab her nose. Sherry smiled as she kissed the little one's forehead and continued to stare at her eyes. They were a deep, crimson red… just like Brago's. Oh, how she looked so much like him… the resemblance was almost uncanny.

She remembered looking up into Brago's crimson orbs the nights he would stay with her and reading his expressions. It wasn't the desire in his eyes at those hours that caught her attention, but rather the loving look they held, the pure opposite of what she first saw of him when they met. How he had _changed_! If one ever mentioned that people couldn't change from bad behaviors to good, Sherry would always disagree. There was always the possibility to become better, even if Brago wasn't human, she knew this quite well.

With a sigh, the woman averted her gaze from her daughter back to the landscape in front of her as she wished for her husband again. Her gaze was blank as she stared in front of her for a moment, but then her eyes widened as she saw a car pull up to the side of the driveway as a man stepped out of the car.

Sherry blinked and rubbed her eyes just a little as she watched the said man begin to walk up the pathway to the front porch where she sat. Her azure eyes slowly began to widen even more as she recognized the Japanese man she hadn't seen in a couple of years.

"Ah, this place still looks the same…" Kiyomaro said as he glanced around, his eyes soon landing on Sherry. "But you look a little different." He rested his hands on his hips as he gazed upon the scenery around him.

"Kiyomaro…" Sherry murmured slightly, a look of awe taking hold of her features. She blinked again.

"Well, it's good to see you again," the dark haired man said as he smiled somewhat. "Don't always see a lot of former bookkeepers, do we?"

The woman shook her head. "No."

Kiyomaro laughed a little. "Well, I see Megumi all the time, don't really see much of Folgore or Sunbeam anymore. I suppose we're all preoccupied with our lives outside the battle now, huh?" Sherry grinned just a little as she caught the man's gaze leading towards her daughter, whom was looking up at him with a curious look in her eyes. Kiyomaro smirked a little as he shrugged. "Well, I guess we've all changed since then, haven't we?"

"Yes," the woman nodded in agreement, her expression somewhat saddening. The other continued.

"Heh, it's certainly a lot easier to study without Gash around, although I still miss him. But anyway…" Stopping, Kiyomaro then noticed the solemn expression overwhelming the French woman's features as her head lowered a little. He sighed and rubbed the back of his head before straitening his position and staring down at her with a serious look. "I heard news from Gash the other week, too," he suddenly said, and Sherry's eyes widened as she immediately looked up at him.

"Y-you did?" she said aloud. "B-but I thought he was being controlled?"

"Well, I take it you know about that," said Kiyomaro as he rubbed the back of his head. "But he still is being controlled, he came to visit me the other week and told me he managed to break free of the spell temporarily and came to visit me as soon as he could. Frankly, I had no idea this was happening until then, but he managed to inform me of everything."

"W-what? What did he have to say?" Sherry said, now standing up and holding onto her daughter tightly. "You have to tell me!"

The brown-eyed man nodded. "He told me everything Noru's been planning up to this point. He's using Gash as a method to come in and out of the human world, and is taking up all his power at the same time so he can use his powers while here as well. That's all Gash knows, but from what I can tell he's planning something, probably trying to take over the Makai as well."

Sherry's eyes widened as she mused over everything he said, mulling it over as she bit her tongue. "…Did he have any news on Brago?" she inquired hopefully.

"All he said was that Brago's been taken captive, but… I think you probably know that already." Kiyomaro watched as the blonde's expression saddened and he glanced to the side for a moment before continuing. "But he said he's trying to figure out how to stop him. I don't know how he's going to, but he's planning it. Gash may not be as stupid as he was before, but I'm sure he could figure out something. But I don't know if he'll be able to make it in time, he looked really bad when I saw him…"

"Hmm?" Sherry inquired, turning her blue eyes up to meet hazel. "He's sick, right?"

"Yeah," the other nodded. "You knew?"

"…I heard a rumor about it, is all," Sherry said quietly, glancing down to the ground. "But I couldn't tell if it was true, nor could Brago. It was a while ago when we heard it, actually, before he was… taken."

"Ah," confirmed the other, nodding his head. "Then this has been going on for a long while. I wonder what he's up to?"

"I don't know," said Sherry heatedly, her golden brows furrowing together. "But I don't like it! But there's nothing I can do, Gash is sick and Brago's held captive in the mamono world, what could we humans possibly do?"

"Well…" the Japanese man trailed off, "I do have a source. Megumi still talks to her mamono, Tio, as she always comes down here to visit. I could see if Tio could possibly tell some of the other mamono about the situation and see what happens from then on."

"Megumi?" questioned the blonde as she turned her eyes to look at the other with interest. "The pop star? She was a former bookkeeper too, you mentioned, right?"

The man flushed somewhat as he sheepishly looked to the side. "Aha… hai. I've been dating her for a while now, so Tio can help out." He straitened up a little more again as he redirected his attention back to Sherry. "Anyway, I came all the way down here just to tell you that. I figured you'd like to know…" Kiyomaro then stopped talking as he noticed the woman was then walking up to him and he blinked when she stood directly in front of him, an illegible look in her eyes.

He then glanced down at Fae, whom was still in her mothers arms and he just barely gasped. "She really does look like him," he murmured, and then looked back down at Sherry, whose expression had slightly changed, her features softer with her mouth slightly curled into a soft smile.

"Kiyomaro…" the woman paused just slightly, tears gently beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. "…Thank you. Thank you so much…" The blonde then began to softly cry as the tears of hope rolled down her cheeks, staining her already pale face. "Thank you… thank you…!"

The Japanese man smirked a little. "No problem on my behalf," he said, but then became a little surprised when Sherry rested her head on his shoulder as she continued to weep softly, still holding onto her precious baby girl. _To think this is the girl I knew from the demon war,_ he mused as he smiled and rested one of his hands on her shoulders, shaking his head as he laughed a little. "No problem at all."

* * *

_No, that was NOT KiyomaroxSherry right there, for those of you who for some stupid reason thought that. o.O You should know me by now that i absolutely HATE that couple. It's too... out there... -.-;_

**Next chapter...** Blinded  
A twist of events, a powerful ally, things start to look better already.


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